


Searching for Pack

by Tarvera



Series: Pack is What You Make It [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Peter Hale, Alpha Talia Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Alpha Talia Hale, Gen, Good Peter Hale, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Nemeton, Pack Cuddles, Spark Stiles Stilinski, The Hale Family (Teen Wolf) Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 52,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25955404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarvera/pseuds/Tarvera
Summary: If Stiles wasn't so exhausted he might find it funny how quickly things in life can change. It all started with drunk teenagers and a dare. Now Scott had been bitten by a rogue alpha, his magic decided to make a semi sentient, mutant, mistletoe plant, and he prayer a desperate prayer to a goddess who seems to think he owes her something.A continuation of the series started in Pack Doesn't End in Blood where we go through the events that lead to Peter becoming an alpha and the pack he builds on his way there.
Relationships: Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Peter Hale & Stiles Stilinski, Peter Hale/Sheriff Stilinski
Series: Pack is What You Make It [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1874530
Comments: 118
Kudos: 400





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a work in progress and while I will try to update regularly I am a bit dependent on the whims of my muse for this one. I have the second chapter fairly well plotted out but after that it's up to these characters to tell me what they think should happen. 
> 
> I have added a bunch of Hales to the Hale family for this story. Who they all are aren't relevant for this chapter but I've added 6 cousins to go with Laura, Derek and Cora and given Peter and Talia two more siblings. If I find myself using them more I will add who they all are in a note later. 
> 
> But for now, I hope you all enjoy this deep dive into Stiles' head for the first chapter!

Stiles had never been afraid of werewolves. When he was four years old and his sister’s first shift had resulted in the scar on his left hand, his only thought while she grew fangs and sunk her teeth into him was, ‘that is so cool’. It wasn’t until almost two years after that when he met the rest of the Hales and his not fear of werewolves got affirmed. Oh, he totally thought all the adult Hales were pompous dicks and the kids were entitled brats, but he wasn’t afraid of them (he had gotten his daily cookie taken away for a week that visit because he said all of this out loud, Peter had then snuck him chocolate chips for two weeks). 

The Hale kids took his lack of fear as a challenge (see, totally entitled brats). At school for the next four years whichever Hales shared his school building made a game out of seeing which one could make Stiles screech the loudest, jump the highest and swear in front of adults (the last one happened the most often). Stiles in turn, would sneak dog whistles or other low pitched noises that human ears wouldn’t pick up into his classes and randomly turn them on to watch whichever Hale he had gotten close to twitch until a teacher told them off. 

The games stopped after his mom died. The Hales didn’t know what to do with grief like Stiles’. Alex had been the only one to try something and it had ended with an enraged Stiles attempting to pound a werewolf’s face in. No one else did anything to him for a long time. After the fire all of them had been lost in their grief. The cold walls even began to melt a little as their shared pain brought them together for a time. 

Then Talia entered the scene, and all the fragile bridges being built had crumbled in a day. When Stiles was older he knew it was grief that clouded her judgement. She had lost her mother, her sister, her niece, her nephew, and the aftermath she had lashed out at anyone she thought might be a threat to her remaining family. Knowing this would never earn his forgiveness. Stiles would not, could not, forgive what came next. For she swept in from on high and took Peter from him. 

Pack dynamics had been a particular obsession of his because he had wanted to understand why Peter and Malia could not leave Talia’s pack. Peter had spent many a long session with Stiles patiently working through his questions and tangents trying to explain things that were so intrinsic to a werewolf that they never even thought about them. Peter was the only adult in his life (after his mom died) that had ever seemed to enjoy walking through Stiles’ thought process the whole way through. Even his dad, with the man’s endless patience and deep love, couldn’t last the hours it took Stiles sometimes to sort out the tangled web of his brain. 

But Talia came, took advantage of Peter’s grief, and took him away. Stiles was never, ever, going to forget (or forgive) it. Talia made her family close ranks and the Stilinskis, she made very clear, were not family. 

The torment from the Hales at school started up again and Stiles’ responses to the torment became more viscous in response. He remembered everything Peter had ever taught him about werewolves and dived deeply in his own research. Internet forums, Wicca websites, and a few illicit side trips to obscure shops on the occasions when his dad took him into the city helped his knowledge grow and expand. He taught himself latin and greek, he learned norse and gaelic runes, he planted an herb garden and began to make his own potions, and one day he managed to track down a phone number and with shaking fingers he dialed it to talk to his grandfather for the very first time. 

Meeting his mother’s side of the family made him start to think anyone who interacted with the supernatural world was a pompous dick. Apparently, Claudia Stilinski’s decision to marry a ‘mundane’ was comparable to high treason for the Gajos family. He was pretty sure that she had named him after her father was the only reason the family decided to talk to him. This theory was shot to hell though during the summer he was fifteen and he had convinced his dad to let him spend a month in Oregon at the family lands. 

“When a man gets old Mieczyslaw,” (everyone in the family outright refused to call him Stiles) “he begins to rethink his life, go over it backwards and forwards, there can be a lot of regrets in life, pride is my biggest regret. It was my pride and the pride of my family that drove my Claudie away. We think because of the family blood and legacy we are something better. Hah. Fools we are. Don’t let your pride get in the way of family, don’t let the Gajos foolishness and stubbornness be your regrets.” 

He vowed he wouldn’t, that he wouldn’t ever be like them. He was a Stilinski and happy in that. He wouldn’t let the Gajos family make him become like the Hales. He still missed Peter though, it was almost worse than missing his mom or his sister. Them, at least, he knew with certainty he could not have or see anymore. But Peter, Peter he saw, he saw him at the grocery store or driving around town and every time he saw the man it was like a knife shooting through him all over again. 

Life continued, his war with the Hale children continuing, him and his dad holding each other closer, learning a different side of the family. His only real friend was Scott who had moved to Beacon Hills a year after the fire. The two boys had become fast friends quickly, both needing someone to hold onto. Through all this time, Stiles had never been afraid of werewolves. 

Not having this fear he realized, as he and Scott were frozen in wide eyed horror at the red eyed monstrous creature looming over them, had been very foolish of him.


	2. Chapter 2

Stiles lungs were burning and every inhale of air just wasn’t enough to keep moving. The monstrous alpha was playing with them. Driving them one way then the other. They needed to stop playing this game but he was having a hard time processing a different plan through the overwhelming panic. Scott was in worse shape then he was which is why they had collapsed, with Scott using his inhaler with jerky movements. 

There was a growl to their right that made them both freeze. His only hope at this point was that he had managed to get them close enough to the Hale land boundaries that someone would notice. He didn’t have too much faith though, he knew that Deaton had shit for warning spells. Not for the first time that night he wished his magic was good for more than just warding, plants, and healing. He also vowed to himself to never, ever, leave the house without mountain ash again. 

Wait, plants! He had a plant that might help. The alpha crawling out of the forest, about thirty feet away from them, derailing that thought. Scott made a strangled noise behind him. With shaking hands he pulled out of his pocket his only possible defense, a small sprout of mistletoe he’d cut that morning before school, he’d gotten distracted so instead of putting it up for drying it had gotten shoved into his pocket.

“Please Morrighan, guide my way.” Stiles whispered. The alpha’s growl got louder and Stiles took a step forward, locking eyes with the beast he tried to focus all his energy into the two inches of mistletoe. Grow, he insisted, grow roots, and be ready. 

“Stiles.” Scott’s voice seemed to echo through the forest. Everything else was silent around them, even the wind had stopped whispering through the trees. “Stiles.” More panic in the voice this time. The alpha’s eyes shifted from Stiles onto the boy on the ground, shit, no. 

“Hey you mangy dog, be a good boy and go find a stick so we can play fetch.” 

The alpha snarled, attention back on Stiles now. Good, it seemed that even feral alphas weren’t immune to dog jokes. Any second now he thought, watching the beast’s back legs tense, preparing for a leap. Breathing deeply in and out he focused again on the tiny plant in his hand. He could feel roots now on one end and it was pulsing slightly as he fed more spark energy into it. He prayed to the Morrighan again that this would work. A calm swept through him, distantly he thought he heard the cry of a raven, the burning red eyes of the alpha locked with his. He was seconds away from moving when the standoff became too much for Scott to handle. 

He heard Scott call out his name as the alpha made its move, but not towards Stiles, instead it aimed for the other boy who had shot off sideways in an attempt to run. Stiles’ concentration was thrown and he lost his hold on his spark feeding the mistletoe. He tried to run forward to intercept but was too late and could only watch in horror as the giant beast slammed into Scott, jaw clamping down on the teen’s side. 

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Scott screamed. Stiles panicked and threw the mistletoe towards the alpha. The air shimmered, Stiles had a wild moment of thinking it looked just like when the fairy godmother in Cinderella made the pumpkin into a coach, the mistletoe expanded in twisting weaving lines to wrap around the alpha. There was a moment of dead silence before the beast gave a roar as it tried to twist it’s way out of the still lengthening vines. It spun around and made a lunge for Stiles who panicked flailed backwards but the vines held tight. 

Another howl ripped through the night air but oh thank the Morrighan, it wasn’t coming from the alpha. More howls in answer to the first came through the trees. An all black wolf came flying out of the trees, it’s teeth bared and red eyes flashing as it snarled at the rogue. Stiles scrambled further back, not wanting to get stuck in the middle of an alpha smackdown. Gods, he hoped Scott was ok. Another wolf came through the trees pausing next to it’s alpha. Both them stayed there, teeth bared, while the rogue twisted and roared against the mistletoe around him. 

A hand gripped the back of his neck, he startled sideways and it was only the prickling familiarity that stopped him from screaming. He spun sideways to see a grim looking Peter staring at him. 

“You have to pull the mistletoe off him or Talia can’t attack, if she goes after him now the mistletoe will weaken her too much.” 

“Oh gods, I, uh...I don’t know how I did that or how to undo it.” A sharp bark from the other side of the rogue made him jump again. He looked up and winced as he saw Talia Hale looking straight at him. 

Peter moved his hand to wrap around Stiles shoulder and pulled him to his feet. “Stiles, breathe with me here. You need to take deep breaths, you are ok, you are going to be ok. You have the whole pack here ready to fix this, you did wonderful stopping him, now we just need your help so we can end it.” Not being able to help himself Stiles fell into the familiar warmth, he had missed this so much. “That’s it, Mischief, breathe for me, just like that. You’ve done so good and been so brave.” 

A hand was rubbing soothingly over his back as the strong arms held him tight. Closing his eyes tight he pushed back down into his spark looking for the connection to the mistletoe. He had to think of this like any normal day in his garden. When he was working with a plant there would always be a connecting thread from him to the plant, he just had to find this one. There it was, feeling a tiny bit gleeful he grabbed onto that thread and gently tugged on it, asking the vines to come back to him. They protested, they enjoyed being big and strong. You can still be big and strong he told them, just don’t do it wrapped around a feral werewolf. They grumbled at him, they didn’t understand why he was being so particular, but they listened and opening his eyes he could see the vines start to retract. 

Peter tensed and murmured, “Get ready alpha.” 

Unfortunately, the rogue alpha realized the vines were retreating before the rest of the Hales did. With a final twist it bolted away from Talia. She gave a howl and took off after it, answering howls sounded around her as the rest of the pack had seemingly circled them while Stiles had been working. 

“Go help your friend.” Peter said as the man shifted into wolf form and went to help his family. Stiles stumbled as the warmth left him but managed to get over to Scott to collapse at the teen’s side. 

“Scott? Scotty? Oh gods, please don’t be dead. Please.” Shaking, he ran his hands over his best friend to try and tell where he was injured. The dark of the forest made it pretty much impossible to see anything. A rough moan interrupted his chattering pleas to any gods or goddesses that might be listening. “Scott? Are you with me?” 

“...Stiles…?” 

“Oh thank Airmed, you are going to be ok. Where does it hurt? I can’t see anything.” 

“My side, my side hurts so much.” 

“Ok, ok, tell me when I hit the spot, gonna try and tie my shirt around it.” 

Scott’s mangled yell as he ran his hand down his friend’s side was enough for him and he dragged off his over shirt to try and tie as tight as he could around the wound. Swearing and praying to Airmed for healing and to the Morrighan to stay her hand. Distantly he knew it was a poor idea to pray so much in one night. Airmed might have mercy as a goddess of healing but the Morrighan could grow irritated at being called upon so frequently. 

He let out a startled shout as a wolf materialized by his left shoulder. The wolf quickly turned into a glowering Derek Hale who roughly shoved Stiles aside to take a look at Scott. Rubbing his shoulder he glared at the back of Derek’s head but didn’t say anything because he knew that Derek had the advantage of being able to see in the dark. 

“I need to get him back to the house, someone will find you to lead you there too. Eventually.” Then before Stiles could work up a protest Derek was scooping Scott up and took off with him through the trees. A soft glow to his right made him turn, woah, the mistletoe was glowing slightly in the night air. Eyes wide he slunk over to it and ran a hand gently down one stalk. He could feel it’s joy at being free and big. Grinning, he let out one more spark of energy into it so the roots could dig in deeper and the outside grow tougher. This mistletoe would be pretty much impossible to get rid of now, even by him, it was the least he could do when it had saved his life. 

Still worried for Scott he turned and started to follow the path Derek had taken towards the Hale house. He tried to hurry but the adrenaline crash was threatening to hit him now that he was safe and Scott was mostly safe. Trying to hold onto his fear for Scott to keep himself going he stumbled through the woods. Just as he stumbled over a tree root that he could swear just came up for the purpose of tripping him a large warm wolf pressed against his side. With a quiet sob of relief he half collapsed against Peter. The wolf whined and nuzzled him. 

“I’m glad it’s you. I don’t think I could have handled having one of the others here right now, gods, d -- Peter, I…” In an instant he was wrapped in strong arms again. 

“Oh Mischief, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” 

“I hate you.” 

“I know, you should hate me, I hate me too.” 

Part of him just wanted to stay here, wrapped up in Peter like nothing had changed. Like he still had two dads instead of one. But he couldn’t stay in a dream, he was old enough to know that now. Pushing away he tried to say all this outloud but darkness closed in on him and he felt himself falling over before Peter’s arms were lifting him up. Weakly he shoved at a shoulder but his spark felt safe with Peter so exhaustion won out as he drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am shamelessly stealing random bits here and there from folklore, teen wolf lore, mythology and some modern day Wicca websites I've reading like a crazy person trying to get ideas for a better basis for a magic system. I decided Stiles is calling on Celtic/Irish Goddesses instead of Slavic ones because he did all this research into magic before meeting his Polish family and finding out about that side of things and then he'd kept to them because it annoyed his various relatives that he didn't switch to having patron Slavic deities like a proper Gajos.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This plot is now growing faster then I can track. I may actually need to make a plan for this story now. 
> 
> I don't have a beta, so any typos are my fault. I try to re-read them a couple times before posting but I just noticed some obvious ones I'd missed on the last chapter, so oops.

There is a river flowing beneath him, (he thinks it’s a river). It’s night out and the moon is a sliver in the sky. Only a few stars can be seen in between the dark clouds rolling above him. The twisting thing beneath him, (he is almost positive it is a river now), has dark boat-like shapes on it. The air around him is sharp and bitter. He smells smoke, ash and a sharp copper scent. 

The wind shifts and he shifts with it, letting the currents take him closer to the shapes on the river (ok, now he can say for sure that it’s a river). There are people in the boats but they aren’t moving, just sitting silently staring forward into the darkness. The river’s current is steadily carrying the boats forward. He can sense their fear but also anticipation. The wind picks up and he quickly moves ahead of them now moving upwards to go over the cliffs the river is cutting through. 

The amount of light in the valley takes him by surprise so he tilts left and circles the blaze of fire to let his eyes adjust. He hears screams and the clash of metal against metal. He circles the city the battle surrounds, half of it is on fire. A horn sounds throughout the valley, echoing off the all four sides as the deep tone drowns out all else. He spins, trying to find its source, when everything goes black. 

A voice speaks, “You’ll do little spark, you’ll do.” 

Stiles jolted awake, feeling like everything was burning. His body lands on what he assumes is the floor with a loud thump and he hears hurried footsteps. Gasping for air he tries to roll onto his back when hands grip his shoulders. 

“Stiles? Stiles, you’re ok, you’re safe, I’ve got you.” 

“Dad?” He winces, his voice comes out as a croak. 

“Yeah, son, I’ve got you.” 

Relieved he lets himself be turned around and held, basking in the familiar safety of his dad’s arms. His mind is a mess, he tries to take deep breaths and sort through it all. Slowly the events of the night come back to him. Alpha, mistletoe, Scott, Peter....fuck, Peter. Not wanting to but knowing he has to, he opens his eyes and looks into the concerned face of Noah Stilinski. 

“Hey dad, wazzup?” 

His dad lets out a snort and rolls his eyes. “Only you, kid, only you.” 

“Scott?” 

“He’s still at the Hales, Melissa went up there, and from what I gather, that was not a fun conversation. Kind of glad I got to miss out on that one. But he’s healing, so other than being a werewolf, he’ll be fine.” 

Stiles winces, yeah, he wouldn’t have wanted to be the one to tell Melissa McCall not only that werewolves existed but that now her son is one too. He slowly pushes himself up, happy to realize he seems to have control over his limbs again. Looking around he freezes when at the door of his bedroom he sees Peter Hale standing there. 

“Uh, dad?” 

Noah looks at the door and sighs. “He’s been waiting to make sure you were ok.” 

“So now you care about that all of a sudden?” He knows his tone is sharp but can’t help it. Peter flinches and looks away. 

“Stiles…” Noah said, his voice tired. 

“No. I’m not going to just forget or let go of this. He gave up the right to care four years ago.” 

“You know people don’t work like that, son, emotions don’t work like that. Also, Peter, and me, need to know what happened. Why were you and Scott out there anyways?” 

Stiles glared stubbornly at the floor. He’s being petty, he knows it, but doesn’t care. 

“It’s all right Noah. David or Maggie can come by later to get the story if Stiles would prefer.” 

With that all the fight goes out of him. He’s just so tired and rattled. “No...it’s ok, I can tell you. I require food first.” He reached over to use the side of the bed to leverage himself up but then his dad is there, helping him stand. Together they shuffle downstairs and into the kitchen. Peter gives them careful distance the whole time. After eating some food and drinking a lot of water and gatorade he finally feels awake enough to tell the story. 

There is an old story about a spring of water that borders the edge of the Hale boundary in the preserve. The story goes that if you drink a cup of it at midnight your deepest wish will come true. It has become a common thing for people to go out there to try it out. The previous day in school some of his classmates had been talking about it and Stiles had scoffed at them for believing in fairy tales. Jackson had taken offense at this (to be fair, he takes offense at almost anything Stiles does) and then called Stiles a coward. Stiles retaliated by calling Jackson something he was not repeating in front of his dad. The argument (fight) escalated until Scott intervened and said then why don’t we all go to the spring and see who is right. Everyone agreed to go which led to why they were out there. 

“Wait, so there were more than just the two of you out there?” 

“Uh, yup…” 

“Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this? What happened to them?” 

“No clue daddio, they all bolted as soon as we heard the howl. I got held up because Scott dropped his inhaler.” 

“And you didn’t tell us earlier there were other teenagers out in the forest?” 

Stiles flailed at the injustice of this. “When would I have told you? When I was running for my life? When all the Hales pretended I didn’t exist? When I was collapsing because of physical and magical exhaustion?” 

“Ok, ok, you’re right. I’m sorry. Peter?” 

“Talia has the pack checking all the trails in the preserve even the ones out the boundaries right now. If they are out there still we will find them.” 

“Good, I still want everyone’s names so I can send deputies to check with their families to make sure they got home safe.” 

Grumbling, Stiles gave him all the names and then finished the story. He left out the dream he’d had and also his extra magic to make sure the mistletoe couldn’t be removed. It was a little petty but he’d never pretended to be above the petty revenge here or there. He was pretty sure Peter could tell he was leaving something out but the man didn’t call him on it. Finally, he got through it all and slumped against the table. 

“So now can we go check on Scott?” His dad and Peter trade a look. “Come on, please?” 

“You need sleep first and then yes, if Scott isn’t home by then we can go check on him.” He gives them both what he knows is a very weak glare then lets himself be herded into bed. 

Thankfully, if he dreams again, he doesn’t remember any of them. When he wakes, it’s three in the afternoon and he’s starving. Stumbling downstairs he finds his dad napping on the coach. Peter is nowhere to be seen. Stiles’ traitorous emotions are almost disappointed by that. He grabs a box of crackers and sneaks back upstairs. Sitting down at his and reaching for his computer he stops. There sitting on top of the folded laptop is a large black feather. 

For a moment all he can hear or smell is back in that dream when he was above the battlefield and the horn is still sounding in his mind. The moment, thank Airmed, passes quickly and he shakily reaches out and picks up the feather. It is warm to the touch and for a moment he could swear that it glowed slightly. Opening his computer he hastily googles large black feathers and compares the one in his hand to the pictures. Dammit, it’s a raven’s feather. Setting it back down he lets out a moan before thunking his head against the desk. His grandfather’s words coming back to him.

“Be careful how you pray to gods, Mieczyslaw, be extra careful for what you promise in return. Gods are not human but they still have desires and needs. What they want from us is often much more than we want to give.”

Fuck it all...of course it had to be the Morrighan he had prayed to in desperation. He was an idiot. Wanting nothing more than to burn the feather up but knowing that would be a very bad idea he instead moved it into a small chest he kept on his desk. 

“Stiles? You awake?” 

“Yeah Dad, just got up.” 

Shoving all thoughts of war goddesses and raven’s feathers out of his mind he got up and quickly made his way downstairs. His dad is in the kitchen now, pulling out ingredients for sandwiches. Stiles got about halfway through a sandwich before his Dad finally broke the silence. 

“You should go easier on him, you know.” 

“No, dad, I don’t know.” 

“He lost his daughter and -” 

“And we didn’t lose anything that night?” 

“You know it’s different for a wolf, the bonds he feels is something we will never understand. Needing to be close to his family to keep him stable -” 

“Bullshit! Fucking bullshit, we were his family. They abandoned him before, but as soon as the disgrace to Hale family was dead oh, then he could come back and leave us poor pitiful humans, she was my sister, she was your -” 

“That’s enough.” He snapped his jaw shut, fisting his hands in his lap. Gods, this day. His dad is in full dad mode and has his best ‘I’m disappointed in you’ face on. “Stiles, son, I’m not saying the two of us weren’t hurt or don't deserve to grieve. I’m asking you to give a little grace to a man who grew up very differently than I or even you did. I’m not asking you to forget it or to act like nothing happened. Just, please, for me, ok?” 

Looking up then and seeing the broken look on his dad’s face made him feel like the biggest asshole. Wiping his eyes he moved over to wrap his arms around the sheriff. 

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry.” 

“I’m sorry too, I know I’m asking a lot. Too much probably.” 

Not knowing what else to say he just hugged tighter and let the comforting weight of his father’s arms around him fill his senses. This was real and here, he could count on this man, time had proved that over and over again. He would never let anyone, werewolf or goddess take this away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> coming up...Stiles goes to the Hale house to find Scott.


	4. Chapter 4

Driving up to the newly built Hale house Stiles was wishing his dad had come with him. He was not looking forward to facing the Hales, any of them. Especially if they had been out patrolling and found his mutant mistletoe plant. He should really come up with a name for it, maybe Nick? Or was that too on the nose...His musings were interrupted by someone smacking his driver’s side window. Yelping he glared at the offending party, then he smirked. Ha, Derek Hale was trying to eyebrow glare him to death. Perfect, Derek was the second most fun of the Hales to rile up, and Stiles enjoyed it every time. Stretching himself leisurely Stiles slinked out of the car and grinned brightly in Derek’s face. 

“Wazzup big bad, you look like one of the little piggies didn’t get you anything from the market.” As always, he reveled in Derek’s response of scrunching up his face in confusion before settling back to glower mode. Reaching up to pat Derek’s face, he laughed when the beta wolf snapped at his fingers. “Gotta try harder than that grumpywolf.” Derek having caught up now to Stiles’ game rolled his eyes then grinned. Uh oh. Stiles yelped as suddenly he had 200 pounds of werewolf wrapped around him and sharp teeth nibbled his earlobe followed by a slurp as Derek licked and spat into his ear. 

Stiles flailed backwards and fell over glaring up into Derek’s shit eating grin. “Oh my gods, Derek that’s disgusting!” Frantically he tried to rub out the offending saliva from his ear. Derek was laughing now as he held out a hand. Grumbling, Stiles let the wolf haul him back up. He was just opening his mouth to continue their usual sparring match when Derek’s face shut down completely. Dammit...he had really hoped Laura was not home. Fighting down his first response of lashing out at Derek’s older sister he spun around and gave her his best aw shucks look. 

“Fix it.” And oh shit, of course she would be the one who had found Saint Nick. Shoving his hand into his pocket he rubbed his fingers across a runestone then gave her a wide eyed look. 

“Fix…?” He started edging towards the front door again hoping that someone else would come out soon. A clawed hand shot out to grip his arm. Double shit. 

“You know exactly what. Fix what your freak self made out there last night.” 

“Nope. Still don’t know what you are talking about. But gee, Laura, remember that I’m just a squishy human and when claws break my skin it doesn’t, you know, heal.” Her response to this was to grip harder, and yup, there was the claws breaking skin. 

“Laura…” Derek hovered slightly closer, his worried frown in place as he looked at his sister. 

“Go back inside. I have this...thing handled.” 

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Thing? Really? That’s the best you can come up with? You need to up your insult game there wiley. Now, claws in time, balto, I’m here to see Scott.” 

Laura’s eyes narrowed in and she started to growl. He had moved his hand out of his pocket and called his mountain ash to twine around it. About when he thought he was going to have to use it another voice called out from the house. 

“Enough.” Talia Hale came sweeping down the steps. Laura immediately dropped the arm and backed up. Derek flinched and moved back so fast Stiles was sure he’d hurt himself. Sighing internally he deliberately but his back to Derek. He had to shove down another first response, every time he saw Derek react like this to the presence of his family members made Stiles feel mildly homicidal. Talia gave Stiles her widest, most fake smile. “Stiles.” 

“Mrs. Hale.” He matched her smile and watched with glee as her own smile tightened around the edges. Yeah, she is definitely the most fun of the Hales to rile up (and slighting her by refusing to use the proper title of Alpha, while petty, was an easy shot). His best victories were when he could get her to lose the smile completely, the greatest victory of all was that one time he managed to get her to lose control enough to snarl at him. Talia is a woman that prides herself on her control and appearance. His mission has always been to ruin that, even before he fully understood the depth of her betrayal of Peter, she had always been his favorite target. 

“Before we go in perhaps you would be willing to undo your spell on the mistletoe plant that has become...very, enthusiastic since last night.” 

“The mistletoe? Undo a spell...umm, well, as you know Mrs. Hale, I’m not really much of a magic user, just a dabbler really. Last night, I, uh, it’s all kinda a blur. I think I may have panicked but I’m really not sure about a spell. I can look and try, but I don’t think I’ll be able to help you.” He made his gaze as earnest as possible. 

She sighed deeply, “Of course, Stiles, you really should listen to Alan’s warnings about magic usage. You are going to hurt yourself someday.” 

Ducking his head to hide his face (it was almost too easy to convince her that he was useless) he put his best sheep like impression on. “I know. I’m sorry, I just panicked.” 

She reached out and patted him on the head (it took all his willpower not to throw mountain ash in her face). “Of course dear. Now, your friend is doing very well. I’m not sure it is the best idea to visit him right now though. This time will be difficult for him as he transitions, it’s much better that he be around only wolves.” 

“Oh, I thought Melissa was here?” 

“Yes. She is, though we are of course encouraging her to return home to rest as her son is more than all right now. He has taken to the change very well and will make an excellent addition to my pack.” 

Stiles had to force a smile on his face as a familiar sick feeling washed over him. Not again, please not again, he said to himself. “Well, please, I feel responsible for last night and I just would really like to see him myself.” 

Talia’s voice became tight. “I’m afraid I just cannot allow that. As you are well aware, being around humans for an uneasy wolf is not a good idea.” 

Fighting back the scathing retort he simply nodded and turned back to his car, he knew it would be useless to continue to argue. Better to retreat and regroup. Melissa was unlikely to be on board with this attitude of Talia’s so he would need to go gain her as an ally before trying again. Hopefully his dad was already working that angle. Now that Melissa was in the know about werewolves they would be able to tell her the whole story of Peter. 

It wasn’t until he crossed back onto public land that he pulled over and allowed himself to cry. It just wasn’t fucking fair, they could not take another person from him like this. Clenching the steering wheel he felt something warm start building beneath his chest, urging him out of the car and into the forest. Before his mind had caught up with his body he was halfway towards the spring the group had been making their way towards the previous night. 

Taking a moment to try and catch his breath he looked around himself and promptly freaked out. He was standing in a small clearing and was completely surrounded by ravens. They were covering the tree branches and even on the ground around him. They were all silent, just sitting there, almost as if they were stuffed. Leaning on his knees, Stiles tried to control his breathing. A slight rustling made him look up. Almost as one the ravens turned to look north. Dread filled him, shaking he tried to take a step back, only to find that his whole body seemed frozen in place. The air around him which had seemed warm for winter was now bitterly cold. 

A dark speck in the sky was moving. As it grew closer he could tell it was another raven. This one was different though, he felt that through his entire body. The raven flung up its wings as to land and in its place stood a woman. She stood tall and strong, her hair was twisting black coils that seemed to constantly be moving. She was dressed all in black and her pale skin seemed to be a light of its own. As Stiles stared, transfixed, at her face he almost thought he saw outlines of feathers shifting beneath her skin. Making a strangled noise his body finally moved and he let it fall to the ground, kneeling in front of the goddess of battle and war. 

Cool fingers gripped his chin and his whole body shuddered. “Rise little spark.” Somehow he managed to get his legs to work and got to his feet only to find himself staring deep into eyes that seemed to go on forever. Her pale lips twitched and she let go of his chin. The silence seemed to stretch for an eternity as he couldn’t seem to look anywhere but her face. 

No. This would not beat him. He clenched his fist and breathed deep, drawing up whatever strength left in his body, he spoke. “I thank you for your protection and patronage, goddess. Do you require something of me?” He was proud that his voice, while shaky, was clear. 

She threw back her head and laughed. “Oh, Mischief, you are well named. Even in your fear you use your words well. Do I require something? What a question. Come with me.” The last was said as a command and Stiles could do nothing but grip the hand offered to him. The clearing vanished in an instant and all he could see was darkness. Drawing in a breath he gripped the hand of the goddess, hoping she would not let go. Suddenly there was light again. The Morrighan let go of his hand and he realized he could feel warmth again. Frowning he looked around him, it was as if they had time traveled to summer. 

They were standing in a large clearing and before them was a magnificent tree, an oak, his mind distantly told him. Though it was not as tall as the redwoods that surrounded it, at the same time it almost seemed to dwarf the other trees. Moving forward he reached out a hand to place gently on its trunk. Warmth flowed through him and for a brief terrifying moment it felt as if he could feel the entire forest clambering in his head. He wrenched his hand back and fell over, staring in shock at the tree in front of him. It was connected to everything, the entire county. 

“A nemeton.” He jerked sideways, he had almost forgotten she was there. She stepped forward just as he pulled himself up again. 

“Is it here? For real?” 

“A shadow of it is in your time. This is it in its glory.” She sighed and reached out to ghost a hand along its bark. “The Hales planted it, long ago. They were here before all other settlers, claiming this land as theirs. Other gods were here though, other magics and shifters. In order to claim completely they planted a seed from the land they came from. They worshipped their gods and brought us here too. It allowed us to have a place here, to take it for ourselves.” 

Stiles shuddered, not liking the picture that the goddess was telling. “It was their land first.” 

“Yes. We are not as bad as you may think. Many were, but us gods, we followed those who worship us. We are above human’s petty rights and wrongs.” Stiles scowled and looked away. She laughed softly, “You do not approve, it does not matter. What is done, is done. What matters now is the failure of the Hales.” 

Stiles looked at her in shock. He felt completely overwhelmed and had no idea what to do about any of this. In his wildest imaginations he had never thought he would actually meet one of the goddesses he regularly left small gifts for. His brain was struggling to process what she was saying, though what he was processing made him feel sick and ashamed. He had never thought about what beings were worshipped or ruled here before outsiders came in with their own gods and practices. The realization that so much had been lost and displaced made his skin crawl. The goddess was barely giving him time to digest this before she was speaking again. 

“A generation ago the alpha let the hunters cut the nemeton down. He did it as an attempt at peace.” Her eyes darkened. “One should not make peace with monsters.” She reached out and grabbed his hand again. He gave a startled shout as the world went dark again. When the darkness faded, he almost fell over from the lack of life he felt. Where the giant tree stood was now a stump, white and dead. 

“Now, you see.” She reached over and gripped his chin again. “Your blood carries deep magic, Mieczyslaw, you have done well with the little you have been taught. Your mother’s magic was small, barely an ember. Your’s is a spark that can light up so much. Talia Hale is a follower of her father, she makes peace with hunters and shuns those who could heal her land.” 

He pulled away, eyes burning. “I don’t...I don’t know what you want me to do.” 

She swept her hand towards the stump, “You will fix this.” 

“No.” Fear gripped him, “How?” 

She moved forward and ran a hand gently down his cheek. “I cannot tell you. It is only permitted for us to guide, to show truth. We cannot control your actions, little spark. But one thing, I leave you with.” Leaning forward, she whispered in his ear. “Find a better alpha.” Shuddering, he closed his eyes. When he opened them, she was gone, he was in the small clearing he had started in. Nothing was there to indicate anything out of the ordinary had happened. A caw made him look up, a single raven was sitting in the tree closest to him, eying him. His legs gave out and he sat down hard. He was so fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My inspiration for how gods interact with mortals is taken mostly from how Tamora Pierce uses them in her Tortall books (which if you have not read them you are missing out on truly excellent writing and wonderful characters). 
> 
> Also, the Sterek feels crept up on me here when Derek demanded he get some Stiles interaction. I hope you enjoyed the moment of fluff before we got back to the angst. 
> 
> And yes, I am aiming for a happy ending! It's just going to be a journey to get there.


	5. a day with Peter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter did not want to get written. I had a really hard time getting into Peter's head for this. Not super happy with how it turned out but I just needed to stop staring at it. But, I hope you can enjoy the brief interlude into what's happening with Peter and the Hale pack. 
> 
> This is where all those added Hales make an appearance. Lots of kids! And I did enjoy writing Peter and the kids together.

A week after a rogue alpha had mysteriously appeared in Hale territory Peter was exhausted. The tension in the pack house was at an all time high and everyone was worn ragged with constant patrols. Peter was also constantly trying to revert attention away from the giant mistletoe plant that was happily making a home for itself in the woods. In a week it had grown to twice its original size and was somehow surviving, not attached to a host plant. In fact it had wound around itself so many times it was almost a tree itself. 

Thankfully, everyone was distracted by a new member of the pack, Scott McCall. Talia especially was unable to put much focus on finding the rogue alpha as she was determined to keep the new werewolf living at the Hale house. Melissa McCall was not a fan of this idea and almost everyday the two women were having some sort of argument over this. Peter very much did not care at this point and was just happy he had been able to avoid being roped into helping with training the new beta. 

He was currently holed up in the gardening shed, feeling teenager again, avoiding chores. He was actually surprised he had not needed to oust some teenagers to make room for himself. His phone buzzed, looking at the text message he smiled softly. He and Noah had been slowly increasing contact again over the past year. It had been rough at first as they had needed to talk through some very emotional things and Peter really sucked at that. They had not moved beyond friendship and Peter was not sure how they could but he would take any time he could get and however he could get it. Being around Noah settled something in him. Talia’s dislike of the Stilinskis was so deep by now that Peter was afraid if he went back to them she would cut him off completely from the pack and leave him omega. He knew he couldn’t survive as an omega, he needed those pack bonds to an alpha. 

He shook his head to try and clear these thoughts. They were nothing he had not already obsessed over for hours and hours. He answered Noah’s question about how he was doing then realized what the time was. Groaning, he started to get up. He’d need to go in soon if he didn’t want anyone to be looking for him. Just then another text came in from Noah, _‘I think Stiles is up to something, he’s been acting jumpy all week and this morning I woke him up from where he’d fallen asleep on top of a pile of papers’_. Peter frowned slightly, _‘I’d ask when is Stiles not up to something but I doubt that would be helpful.’_

From Noah: _ha ha_  
To Noah: _he isn’t going into the preserve is he?_  
From Noah: _god, I hope not. All the deputies are keeping an eye out for that but no matter what I do he always manages to figure out the patrol routes._  
To Noah: _I’ll keep an eye out as well._  
From Noah: _thanks. I just wish I could be home more but the last body from the alpha attack has been ruled murder. Because the claw marks don’t fit any known animal it’s been decided a person is doing it._  
To Noah: _well, shit._  
From Noah: _my thoughts exactly._

After a few more texts Peter had to sign off and go inside. Hoping to avoid notice, he slunk around the house to go through the backdoor door. Surprisingly he met Derek there who was also coming in. 

“I didn’t think you were on patrol this afternoon?” Peter said, eyes narrowing as Derek’s face shifted from stoic to nervous then back. 

“I was just trying to get away from all…” Derek made a vague gesture to encompass the house. Peter snorted. 

“Fair.” He said dryly. “All right, I won’t mention you sneaking out on your own if you don’t mention where I’m coming from.” 

Derek flashed him a slight smile in agreement and disappeared back inside. About to continue on to the study to meet up with the others, Peter paused, there had been a scent on Derek that was familiar. It had been faint and so it barely registered, just as he was about to give up it clicked with him. It was that damn fake evergreen smell that was unique to the air fresheners that Claudia had always used in her jeep. She always said it made her feel like it was always christmas to use them. Both Peter and Noah had thought it just made the jeep smell like fake pine needles but had never once objected. 

Shaken slightly, Peter leaned against the door frame. Memories like that were rarer these days but would still surprise him. Once he had pulled himself together he had to ask himself, why on earth his nephew, and the only son of Talia, would smell like that. The most obvious explanation, that Derek had been in Claudia’s old jeep, was absurd. Unless...he felt a small fission of fear at the thought that Derek might have been tormenting Stiles enough to have the smell of the jeep on him. He knew that Stiles’ relationship with the younger generation of Hales was tumultuous at best but he had thought these interactions only happened on school grounds where the presence of not in the know humans would have kept them from becoming too violent. He quickly started to move through the house intent on searching out Derek only to be waylaid almost instantly by his sister. 

“Peter, there you are. We need to start a little early.” Sighing, he followed her back into the study. Already there were all the Hale family adults left alive. Michael, his brother-in-law, was by the desk scanning over the map of the preserve. The man had been adjusting patrol routes all week in an attempt to throw the rogue off guard. Peter thought that was rather pointless but his comments had not been appreciated. He threw himself into a chair and slouched down. Maggie, the third born Hale sibling, gave him a small smile while Michael, the husband of Rachel who had been second born, gave him an irritated grimace. Laura was also present, radiating pride at being there as Talia’s heir and to be seen as an adult. 

“Let’s get right to it.” Talia said, “Michael will give you the updated patrol routes after I update you all on some news. Christopher Argent, his wife Victoria and their daughter Allison are in town. He went to Deaton as a courtesy and I have a meeting with him this evening to discuss how to manage his side and ours patrolling the same area without violence.” 

It was only years of practice at hiding his emotions that stopped Peter from letting his shock show. Instead of the outraged snarl he wanted to let out instead he was able to drawl, in an almost bored tone. “Please tell me I’ve heard you wrong, dear sister, and that you are not planning on strategizing with an Argent? After what they did to us?” 

Michael, who scorned at hiding emotions, growled at Peter. “You have no proof that was the Argents, Chris has always been fair. I support this decision, alpha.” 

Rolling his eyes long and obviously Peter stretched out slightly. Keeping his tone deliberately slow and sarcastic he said, “Well, pardon me for finding out that Kate Argent just happened to be a substitute teacher at the time and that Gerard Argent just happened to be visiting over the very weekend the fire happened. So yes, Michael, I suppose that is not proof, but truly, when someone you love dies and others might be threatened would it not be wise to be more cautious?” He let out a pause following this before straightening and looking at the useless former husband of his sister before adding, “However, I suppose that one would have to have actually loved the one they lost to feel that way. My bad, I should not assume things.” 

“Enough. Peter.” Talia flashed eyes at him. He let his bright blue gaze meet hers. He knew it was a challenge but something in him was breaking again at the mention of the Argents. Maggie reached out her hand to grip his tight. He could feel the tension and fear radiating out of her. He knew she agreed with him but she had never been able to stand up to Talia and since her husband had died in the fire it had only gotten harder for her. Taking care of her four sons had been about all she could handle in the wake of it all and in the end it was just always easier to just give in to Talia. Shuddering, he closed his eyes and turned his head. Now was not the time for a challenge. 

Talia ended the meeting by stating that Michael would go with her to plan with Argent and because of this, Peter would need to take over Michael’s patrol tonight. Maggie and him both left quickly. Maggie to start dinner and Peter to go find the kids, he’d been neglecting them this week with the increased patrols and his deep need to avoid getting involved with the new beta drama. Honestly, he was surprised Talia had even decided to accept the boy into the pack. She was so obsessed with keeping the Hale pack all Hales. 

As he wandered through the house following the most recent scent trail, he grimaced, actually, he was pretty sure the only reason she accepted Scott was because of Stiles. His sister could be petty like that. He wondered how in all of this, somehow, the blame for all Peter’s choices she didn’t like had fallen on the shoulders of a 16 year old. He knew Stiles had even encouraged it at times, even back when Claudia was alive, he would take glee in riling up Talia at every opportunity. The boy really knew how to dig in where it hurt too, he had an almost uncanny way at finding people’s weaknesses and going in for the kill. Claudia had the same ability, except she had almost always used it to help the person. Not that Stiles was incapable of kindness or compassion, in fact, in some ways he had almost unlimited compassion. Once someone had betrayed him, or betrayed someone that was his, it was game over. 

These thoughts were abruptly cut off when the whisper of barefeet and the smell of excitement gave him all the warning he needed to duck and grab the eight year old who had just tried to leap off the second floor to land on his back. Grinning, he spun his nephew upside down and held him there. 

“And what do I have here?” Peter said, starting to dig his fingers mercilessly into Austen’s side causing the boy to shriek with laughter. 

“Not fair! Not fair!” 

“Not fair? You attack a wolf, pup, and you better be prepared if you lose!” He swung Austen to his shoulder and spun around once which set off another shriek of laughter as he went down to the basement and he was pretty sure most of the rest of the Hale brood was hiding out. At the last step he was tackled on one side at his legs by the eleven year old Andrew, while Maya and Alex came at him from the front and left side. Still holding Austen he went down in a shrieking tangle of adolescent limbs and teeth. He rolled around with them for a few minutes before managing to trap the oldest, Alex, one on top of the other while snagging Austen with the other arm to fling at an incoming Andrew. With all four collapsed and giggling he pushed himself up and beat on his chest. 

“And that cubs is what you get for coming after me, king of wolves!” 

Cora, who was on one of the couches, took the opportunity to leap at him. She flung her arms around his neck and used her momentum to pull him down with her. Landing heavily on top of his chest she beamed at him. “Does that mean I just usurped your role, your majesty?” Laughing he threw her off and then flopped down on the couch. 

“Fine, fine, all bow before King Cora. Now, niblings, I demand cuddles to comfort me from my fall of grace.” 

After they had all arranged themselves to be either on top of, or around him, he looked over at Cora again. She was trying not to show it, but he could tell she was tense and unhappy. She’d wrapped herself around the other side of Austen with her head on his shoulder. It was rare for her to join the littles like this, especially to the point of cuddle piling. 

“So, who is going to give me the lowdown on training the newest Hale pack member?” The indistinct mutterings in response to this was not encouraging. Sighing, he poked the top of Cora’s head with his nose. In retaliation she nipped at his shoulder. “Cora…” 

“I won’t want to talk about it.” 

A thud on the top of the stairs alerted them to the arrival of another Hale pup. Anthony slunk down the stairs and wormed his way almost instantly into the pile. Peter was starting to get concerned now. Anthony, at the old age of 15 (and as the oldest of his sibling group), tended to be more stand offish and had been trying lately to follow Derek around like an angsty wereduckling. Now that all the pups were here except for the Annie and Laura duo and Derek, whom Peter presumed was still in hiding, he knew he was going to have to demand answers soon. Something was off, and it wasn’t just the tension either. He knew these kids, ever since he’d moved back in the house, they had been what saved him. They had given him purpose and a reason to keep living. Maggie’s four were what started it, the four boys had been devastated and lost at the death of their father and clung quickly to Peter as an anchor. 

He poked Cora again. Finally, she sat up and glared at the wall. “Laura made some comment about that stupid plant Stiles made. Scott defended it, said it saved his life, so then Annie threw him down saying he wasn’t allowed to be friends with Stiles anymore if he was going to be a Hale. Then he said he wasn’t a Hale, and that he didn’t even want to be one because we had all ruined Stiles’ life and how - “ She cut off now, trembling slightly. Peter pushed himself up. All the other pups whined and tried to press in. He pulled a hand out and ran it over her hair. 

“Hey, Cora pup, it’s ok. You can tell me.” 

“He said that you didn’t even want to be here but mom threatened to make you omega so you left your mate and son and he wanted nothing to do with a pack that made someone betray someone else like that.” She had said this all in a rush then whined deeply and buried her head back down. Peter kept the hand around her head and pulled her down close to him. He could feel all of them thrumming with tension now. 

“Laura told us all back then that you came back to the pack because Stiles tried to convince you to kill mom and take her alpha spark. That he used black magic.” This came from Anthony. 

Peter closed his eyes and tried to rein in the riot of emotions rolling through him. Fuck. He had not known that is what was told to the pups. He pushed himself up, fighting back a growl. The kids all tensed around him. 

“That is…” He was still fighting himself, he was so furious right now. “...not true. It’s a complete lie. For one, Stiles had barely done any magic back then and Claudia...she couldn’t do magic, her spark wasn’t strong enough. She wouldn’t have -” He stopped himself, gods, speaking of Claudia still made him start crying. “So no, no spell. Talia, she didn’t want me to stay there. Was afraid of branching out beyond the family for pack. And yes, she blamed Claudia and then Stiles for many things…” He stopped himself. Not sure how much more he should share. 

“All this time we hated him.” Cora whimpered when she said this. “And that’s why he hates us, because we took you from him.” 

It took another hour to get them all calmed down enough (and for himself to calm down enough as well) to go up to dinner. Dinner ended up being a rather subdued affair. Talia and Michael had left to meet the Argents which left Peter and Maggie as the only adults in the house. Well, Peter amended in his head, only parent adults. Laura took her mother’s absence as permission to be acting alpha and was in full lecture mode on any perceived offense from the pups. Annie, Laura’s acting lieutenant, mostly just parroted whatever Laura said. Derek was hunched over and subdued, glaring at his dinner plate. This made Anthony extra growly as he took any potential slight against Derek personally. Cora was actively contradicting everything Laura said which meant the dinner was likely to end in a physical fight. 

Normally, Peter would have been highly entertained by his oldest niece’s posturing and the quiet rebellion growing within most of the younger ones but tonight he could feel the thrum of outrage from earlier, which, in the absence of Talia was being directed at Laura. He was worried what the potential blow up this could all turn into. Maggie was giving him confused and questioning looks the whole time. He was not looking forward to that conversation later. To top off everything was Scott, who was both being incredibly helpful to Maggie in getting dinner on the table and simultaneously doing the exact opposite of everything Laura was telling him to do. Austen and Andrew had started to look at Scott in adoration. 

“-making that recommendation to Mom.” 

“So keeping up that becoming a bitch plan big sister, good to know you stick to your goals.” 

“I think I’ll also let mom know that your control has become tenuous as well, little sister, and that I believe you should also stay home this week from school with Scott.” 

“I’m going to school.” Scott said, interrupting calmly, as he buttered another roll for Austen. 

“That.” Laura said, “Is not up to you.” 

“It’s not up to you either.” Scott was still not looking at Laura. 

“Well, it is up to your alpha.” 

A large clatter startled everyone, Anthony had slammed the serving spoon down on his plate. “You don’t get to tell any of us what to do. You’re not the alpha, you’re not my mom -” 

Laura growled and let her eyes flash. “Anthony, leave the table and go to your room.” 

“Fuck you.” 

Dead silence. Maggie looked lost, Laura was growling, Cora looked delighted and the rest of the pups had shrunk into the chairs. Peter felt a headache growing. He stood up, directing the attention towards himself. He rested a hand on his nephew’s shoulder, squeezing slightly before speaking. 

“I think we are all on edge right now. It has been an extremely stressful week for all of us. Laura, Cora and Anthony are correct, it is not your place to order them around as you have been. However, Anthony, moving to such strong language is not appropriate either. Now, we are all pack, that doesn’t mean we always get along but that means we must try.” 

Laura still looked furious and Peter mentally braced himself for an outburst when the doorbell ringing caught them all off guard. Silently berating himself for not paying attention beyond what was going on at the table he turned to move to the front and frowned. A very familiar heartbeat was there, one he had memorized long ago. Confused he moved forward quickly, not wanting any of the other pack members to get there first. 

Opening the door he raised an eyebrow and greeted both Noah Stilinski and Melissa McCall. Noah was in his Sheriff’s uniform, not the best of signs. Melissa looked determined and gave Peter a furious glare as he stood there. 

“Sheriff, Mrs. Mcall, please come in. We are in the middle of dinner but you would be welcome to join us.” 

“No thank you, Mr. Hale, we are just here to collect my son and go.” 

“Ah...yes, my sister is not home at this time, perhaps you would be willing to wait until she returns so the two of you can work out a schedule for Scott’s training?” 

“Absolutely not. I have been waiting for Scott’s new, so called alpha, to speak with me for a week on a compromise that means Scott will live with me, and she has refused to even budge. So, I’m done talking and I’m leaving with my 16 year old son. Now.” 

Peter heard Scott come up behind him. He felt a headache forming. Well, shit, and dammit Talia for your obstinance. He really should have seen this coming. He looked at Noah and winced, there would be no help from this quarter. 

“I understand your frustration. I would normally agree with you, however, as the rogue alpha who bit Scott is still out there it is not necessarily safe for Scott to be without the protection of the pack.” 

“I can go with him.” All four of them turned to look at Derek who had followed Scott to the door. Peter felt completely flatfooted. 

“No!” Laura said, snarling as she came up to join the ever growing clump. Then Derek turned to his sister and snarled back. His own eyes turned bright gold as hers did. 

“Not. Your. Call.” He looked at Peter expectantly. Peter’s mind flew through the options and knew in an instant that this was the best way forward at the moment. 

“Go pack a bag.” He said, then turned to Melissa, “If, that would be acceptable?” She nodded in response and in very little time the four of them had left. Laura had shot furious glares at Peter the whole time and had tried several times to intercept Derek who had steadfastly ignored her the whole time. 

Closing the door and meeting his niece’s furious gaze he sighed. Dealing with Laura was easy. Dealing with Talia though, that would be the hard part. Something in him had shifted, or maybe it had been slowly shifting for a long time, hearing that Talia had made up such a lie about the Stiles and Noah had broken through one of the final barriers. This pack was not healthy and hunters were in town, a rogue alpha was circling, if Talia would not protect the pack, then he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter might take a bit to come out. We will be back to Stiles and hopefully getting back into his head for this will be easier. However, I am on a family vacation and my own niblings are being very demanding for my time and attention. Trying to write in-between things but slow going. 
> 
> Next time...we find out why Derek smells like Stiles ;)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possible trigger warning: Stiles has a brief panic attack, it's not described in too much detail but it does happen. Just when you reach the part of Derek explaining how his mom got Peter to leave the Stilinski's it's in the next paragraph.

Making a dead tree not dead was proving to be just as difficult as Stiles had originally thought it would be. He had had a brief moment of hope when he got back home after the terrifying time traveling adventure with a goddess, when he thought that hey, a nemeton is a magic tree, Stiles was good at growing things, this plus magic tree should equal easy nemeton regrowth. The problem with the epiphany was that Stiles could not find the stupid thing. He had spent hours traipsing around the preserve in the last week and zilch, nada, nothing…

It had been a hellish week too, the rogue alpha had gone and killed three more people, his dad had barely been home, Scott was still being kept captive by the Hales and his dad had ordered all the deputies to keep Stiles out of the preserve. Well, to be fair, it was more of a general order to keep everyone out of the preserve but he was 97% sure his dad had added an off the record clause of ‘especially Stiles’ to that order. This meant in order for him to be spending every free moment searching for a stupid tree stump of magicness, he also had to be working extra hard to keep track of all the patrol routes and who was patrolling. Sandberg and Michaels were the easy ones to get around, but Tara or Luke, they both seemed to have a heightened sense of when Stiles was about. 

He also had to avoid the Hales, this was easier than avoiding deputies, thank the gods. Though, when he processed that he did take a moment to consider how sad that was. It really shouldn’t be easier to avoid werewolves than deputies. It definitely helped that, thanks to Scott, he knew when Peter was patrolling, sneaking around Peter would never happen in a million years. The rest of the Hale clan were easy enough to fool, just mask his scent with the right combination of plant smells and he was golden. That is...he had been golden...until Derek had been a sneaking sneak and suddenly was sitting in his passenger seat, giving Stiles the judgement eyebrows of deep doom. 

He had ended up telling Derek everything, he was still slightly ashamed with himself for breaking so quickly. All it had taken was Derek softening his face, giving Stiles a concerned look and then asking if Stiles was ok in a soft voice. In his defense, he had probably only got 3-4 hours of sleep a night since the vision, dream, thing, and he was starting to feel beyond worried about Scott. So, yes, Stiles had broken down and told Derek the whole freaking story, he was pretty sure there had been tears involved as well. Not his best moment. Derek’s face during this had done a whole lot of tiny expressions and then after Stiles had finished the werewolf had dragged him out of his seat into Derek’s lap and then aggressively cuddled him. It had been the best thing that had happened to Stiles all week. 

That had been yesterday and today was going better. Scott was home with his mom (finally), Derek was staying with Scott (ok, he was both glad and kind of freaking out about this one), and one of his second cousin something something had sent him an old journal about a spark who had bonded with a werewolf pack and a nemeton. Unfortunately, it was in Polish...He had spent every moment not in class working on translating it (because why would something so useful be in english?) today and was pretty sure his eyes were starting to cross. 

He went straight from school to Scott’s house and pretty much sprinted from the jeep into the house. Scott had the door open as he reached it and for the second time in two days Stiles felt himself get tears in his eyes. The relief he felt at Scott’s excitement to see him left him feeling a little shaky. He hadn’t realized just how terrified he had been of Scott being lost to him because of the Hales, until he had his best friend right there. Yup, he was definitely the master of the avoidance of painful emotions. Pulling away but still clinging to Scott’s shoulder he muttered one last, “Dude, I love you.” Before getting super self conscious when he realized not only Derek was there but Cora and Andrew were as well. All three wolves were staring at him very intently. 

“Oh uh, hey?” He cringed, ugg, he was off his game still...shit...he’d never been so off his game with Hales before. 

“Stiles.” Cora said as she stalked towards him with a smile (?). Upon reaching him she abruptly pulled him into a bug. He was sure his eyes were bug eyed as he stared at Scott mouthing ‘what the hell’. Scott looked just as bewildered. 

“Um, ok, hugs are a thing we do? Since when are hugs a thing we do?” 

Cora pulled back, shot a glance at Derek before saying, “I’m sorry.” 

“What…?” 

“I am sorry for the way we treated you, it was a super shitty way to treat family.” 

Ok, now he was beyond level ten confused. He looked over at Derek hoping for some help in interpreting this newest Hale insanity but Derek was blushing (????) and staring at the ground. His brain just stalled as Andrew then rushed in and gave him the tightest, fastest hug ever before beelining to hide back behind Derek. Stiles whirled to Scott. 

“Dude, what have you been sneaking into their food?” 

“Nothing!” Scott yelped as Cora turned a glare on him. 

“Then...why? What? How? You!” He spun back around to Cora. “Explain this absolute insanity now.” 

“Can’t you just accept the apology and move on?” 

He flailed in place. “Why the fuck and I supposed to accept a sorry and a hug after you called me the spawn of the devil and told me if I ever went near Peter again you’d rip out my liver and feed it to me?!” 

“Laura said you were using magic to get Peter to kill Aunt Talia.” Andrew said so fast Stiles had to take a few seconds to work through it. He felt ice go through him. 

“You said some pretty nasty things to us too.” Cora added. 

“Derek, do you believe that?” Stiles said, his voice cracking slightly, while moving away from Cora. 

“No...I...I didn’t know Laura had told them that until this morning when Cora talked to me. I’m so sorry, Stiles, I didn’t know what she had said or how bad it had gotten for you. I thought they had just gone back to like it was before…” 

“Why does this matter?” Cora broke back in, “We know the truth now, Laura lied, Stiles said nasty things to us about mom too, so we all move on and ignore Laura.” 

“Yeah no, not happening. No. Don’t talk now, you said your piece and accusations, now it’s my turn. The thing is though, you believed her, sure, you were kids, so was I, but did you ask Peter? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Did you even tell me so I could have said I didn’t even know magic and then listened to my heartbeat? No, you didn’t. You got Peter back and then treated me like your personal stress ball, yes, I got nasty in return. But here’s the thing, nothing, not one thing I said about your mother isn’t true. She’s a bad alpha, she should have never been alpha, she’s too biased and too stuck in her own rightness. When your grandfather died it should have passed to Peter, not your mom, but your grandfather was a petty thing too so it didn’t. I’m not sorry for defending myself and I’m not sorry for what I said.” 

Dead silence followed this pronouncement. Cora was glaring at Stiles and Andrew was now fully behind Derek. Stiles had never been more grateful for Scott in that moment as his friend was pressed against his side glaring back at Cora. Derek had the look of someone who had just walked in front of a firing squad. Stiles felt bad for him, all this wasn’t Derek’s fault (he’d been the only Hale who hadn’t treated Stiles like he was some sort of evil creature), slowly, the anger melted out of him. Slumping he dropped on the couch, he felt exhausted, and his anxiety was coming back now that the rush of anger had left. Scott dropped down next to him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. Derek hesitantly slid in on the other side of him, Stiles moved his leg so it was flat against Derek’s which did the trick to relax the wolf.

“Pack bonds make these things difficult for us, the added layer of it all being family makes it even harder.” Derek paused, looking at the wall. Stiles knew how hard it was for Derek to talk about things like this so he reached over and grabbed his hand. Derek squeezed back and kept going. “Laura wouldn’t have lied like that if mom hadn’t encouraged her too...she knew after Malia that the kids would be upset to not see you so I’m guessing she decided this was how to stop it. I think mom was just scared, she’d only been an alpha for a year and losing grandpa was hard on her...and...you’re right, I don’t like to say it, but you are, she wasn’t meant to be alpha, but grandpa…” 

Derek trailed off, his grip on Stiles’ hand tightened. “I think she just wanted to keep the remainder of her family safe and together, grandpa was like that too, always hated that Peter wouldn’t live at the house, and instead of him just realizing what Peter needed and to accept it, he blamed your family and mom believed whatever grandpa did. I remember him coming back to the house that first time, Peter was...devastated...he didn’t come out of his room for days, I was so afraid I’d lose him too. Aunt Maggie told him later that mom threatened to make him omega, and would never let him see any of the family again, she also threatened to go to who was sheriff then and make him fire your dad, she said she’d drive you two out of the county.” 

Stiles couldn’t help the jolt his body did at those words, he felt like the room was suddenly too small and he couldn’t breath. It wasn’t Peter’s fault, kept echoing through his mind, it wasn’t Peter’s fault, Peter hadn’t wanted to leave them. He wrenched away from the couch and blindly tried to make his way towards the door, his heart was pounding and he felt like he could hear every beat of it. He finally got outside and sat down hard, the cold air rushing into his lungs and gave him enough clarity to start working on his breathing. He managed to start counting things he could smell, see and touch which slowly got him to come out of the panic attack. 

He felt a twinge in his spark and said, “It’s ok Scott, I’m ok now.” Scott sat down on the step next to him and nudged him gently with a shoulder. The two of them sat there for another few minutes until he felt like he was enough out of the panic to go back in to face the Hales again. When he got back in the room he felt immediate guilt, Cora and Andrew were tucked into Derek, all three looked at him then turned away. Derek looked like he was about to say something so Stiles jumped in before he could. 

“It’s ok sourwolf, I just realized I’ve been an idiot and well...panic attacks are nothing new for me…” He reached the couch and hovered for a minute, all he wanted was to go home and curl up and forget the world for a while but knew that just wasn’t in the cards right now. “Cora, I’m sorry, you were trying and I was a jackass, I’m sorry.” Cora almost lept off the couch and wrapped her arms around him again. He felt even worse when he realized she was crying. She dragged him back into the couch and he fell awkwardly on top of Derek who immediately shoved his face into Stiles’ neck and breathed in. Cora kept herself latched onto his side and then Scott flopped to the floor and put his head on Stiles’ legs. 

He wasn’t sure how long they all stayed huddled together on the couch because it wasn’t until Melissa cleared her throat that any of them came out of the cuddle happy haze they had fallen into. They all jumped, Stiles flailed, Scott scrambled to his feet, just as Derek tried to stand up which made Stiles fall onto Scott and Cora tried to catch him which made all three of them end up on the ground in a pile. 

When he looked up, Melissa was grinning. “Well, good thing I just went shopping. Derek, will you help me with dinner?” Derek, still red faced, gave an immediate yes and rushed into the kitchen. 

Once they disappeared Cora punched Stiles lightly in the arm. “So spill, Derek wouldn’t tell us, but I know you and him are doing some secret thing, he smelled like you rolled all over him yesterday.” She paused and her eyes lit up. “Or maybe you did roll all over him? Ooooh, is he a good kisser? Come on, tell!” 

“Oh my gods, no!” Stiles hissed, certain his face was now bright red too. He really hoped she could not tell just how much he was starting to want that to be true. “Like mr. tall dark and growly would be kissing me. No no no...um, I, well, so...I got visited by a goddess….” 

“Holy shit, what?!” Cora screeched and Andrew looked at him, mouth agape. Scott twacked him on the shoulder. 

“First off, Derek would be lucky to have you, secondly, goddesses are real? Why didn’t you ever tell me this?!” 

Stiles sighed and explained the whole thing again to the three werewolves, hoping Derek had been way too distracted by Melissa to hear any of the conversation about kissing. He really didn’t want to deal with that awkwardness, he and Derek might actually be on the way to becoming friends but this could potentially ruin any hope of that. When he finished the explanation they all say there for a bit processing it. 

“I don’t like this.” Cora, naturally, is the first to break the silence. “And mom would never intentionally hurt the land like that, sure, she’s messed up some things but wouldn’t be like that.” 

“But what about the wards and boundary lines?” Andrew said, voice soft, almost as if he was worried to speak. 

Cora frowned. “What about them?” 

“My dad used to tell stories about his pack and how their emissary had tied the land to not just the alpha but the pack too and that everyone went to certain points on the land every year to renew the connection. It was strong enough that they would know if anyone cross over, but especially if that person meant the pack harm. Mom hasn’t directly said it, but I remember I asked her after dad died why the wards didn’t work and she got all quiet and said not all packs are the same. But Aunt Talia and Laura always say that the Hale pack is older and knows more than my dad’s pack did, so why doesn’t our pack have wards like that?” He ended this rant flushed and a little out of breath. 

Cora looked a little like someone had smacked her with a dead fish for the second time that night. Stiles was beginning to feel bad for her, it couldn’t feel good to have your mom constantly be shown as not capable in one night. If he was a better person he’d try to encourage her or something, but after his earlier break down with the realization about Peter, he was just emotionally done with the day already. 

“Look, guys, I really don’t have any more answers than you do. I have no idea what she meant about finding another alpha, I only just got a book that might help today but it’s in ancient Polish/Slavic and the gods in it are Slavic ones, not Celtic, so I have to figure out corelation on top of translation and it’s a bit of a nightmare. I really appreciate the support, I really do but I”m just too brain dead to come up with a plan tonight.” 

Derek came in just as he finished to pull them all into the kitchen to eat dinner. Everyone left him alone at dinner, Cora instead choosing to focus on winning Melissa over in terms of Scott being pack. Melissa good naturally responded, Stiles was sure that Derek’s presence and then Andrew’s quiet sweetness would be a lot more help than Cora’s haphazard explanations of the pack and how it was to be a part of it. He ate quietly and managed to escape with no fanfare, just one last hug with Scott and a tentative scenting from Cora and Andrew. 

It wasn’t until he got to his jeep that he realized Derek had followed him out. “I need to put a bell on you.” He said, giving Derek a half hearted glare after he had a mini panic moment when Derek appeared at his side. The wolf rolled his eyes. 

“I just wanted to thank you.” 

“Uh, for what dude?” 

“For listening to Cora, even when I know it was hard and you’ve had a really shitty week.” 

“Right, yeah, that…” 

“And I know you didn’t need to tell all of them about the goddess and the vision but I’m greatful about that too. It was hard for me to know something my whole pack didn’t.” 

“So you heard me tell them about that?” Please just say you heard bits and pieces but not everything, please. 

Derek just gives him an incredouslous look. “I’m sure you haven’t forgotten how good werewolf hearing is.” 

“Oh yeah, no, but, I just thought you were you know, distracted, by Melissa and cooking, so you wouldn’t have heard every word, right?” 

Slowly Derek started to smirk. Then he took a slow step forward, crowding a little into Stiles’ space. “Not...every word, but, I think I caught most of it.” Stiles bumped against the side of the jeep, his heart was pounding again, but this time for different reasons than panic. This couldn’t be going where he thought it was going, right? 

“Well that’s good, glad you heard, yup, glad, totally glad, wouldn’t have wanted you to feel left out or anything. Anywho, I should probably head home…” 

Derek put an arm out to lean against the driver’s door as he crowded in a little closer. “I could also smell you from the kitchen.” He leaned in then and gently ran his nose along Stiles’ cheek and then down his neck. Somehow, it was much hotter and more sexual when Derek did it than when Cora had done it earlier. 

He finally met Derek’s eyes. “Gods, you’re so pretty. Oh shit, I said that outloud! Oh shit…” 

Stiles was fully blocked in now with Derek almost touching him and Derek’s arms on either side. Derek was still smirking, so full of confidence, and well, let it be said that Stiles never backed down from a challenge. Drawing in a deep breath and at the same time trying to pull up the last bits of courage he posessed, he closed in the scant distance between them and pressed his lips against Derek’s. For the briefest of moments he was afraid Derek was going to jolt backwards and yell at him but before his mind could begin to panic about this idea, Derek was deepening the kiss. 

Stiles let out an involuntary moan as Derek finally pressed in fully and wrapped an arm around Stiles’ waist pulling him in so that they were touching almost head to toe. Derek was a good kisser, he teasingly pulled on Stiles’ lips with his own and let the barest hint of teeth out to grab at them. 

“HA! Called it!” 

Derek pulled back and rested his forehead against Stiles’, he sighed before turning his head to shout back to Cora. “Isn’t it getting close to your curfew, brat?” A grumble was the response to this and Derek turned back to look at Stiles, he had a small smile on his face. Stiles grinned back at him. 

“So...is this like a thing we can do now? Because I have to say, kissing, kissing is awesome.” 

Derek huffed a laugh and pressed his lips briefly on Stiles before pulled back again. “Yes, definitely, we can do that more. But you should go home, you need to sleep.” 

“I have no time to sleep, this book -” 

“Stiles.” Derek crowded against him again, kissing him long and slow. Stiles felt his knees going weak. “You need to sleep. You’re going to collapse soon if you don’t rest.” 

“Ok, ok…” Stiles grumbled as he was trying to chase after Derek for more kisses. Derek just smiled and stepped back. With a last sigh, Stiles climbed into the jeep and headed for home. As he walked inside he realized just how tired he was. Still feeling a bit giddy from all the kissing he did his nightly routine and crawled into bed. He hoped that he would dream of Derek and kissing and maybe other things that kissing could lead to. 

His dreams however, had very different ideas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time...Stiles has a very confusing dream, there's a new girl in school and some more kisses happen.


	7. Chapter 7

He’s standing next to the Nemeton again, it’s still a stump, but this time he can see the fallen trunk stretching out into the forest. The branches on the trunk still have leaves, they are wilting at the edges but the middle still looks green. The forest feels tense and unwelcoming. His heart stutters slightly, in fear, as he cautiously moves around to take in the clearing. He stiffens when he recognizes the younger form of Peter and Talia’s father. The wolf is standing with his back to the trunk and his hard gaze is resting on a woman. 

“How dare you.” The woman’s voice is angry, as Stiles moves closer, he can see tears in her eyes. “How dare you make this deal alone, without the whole pack’s blessing.” 

“How dare _you_ question your alpha.” The cold tone is just as Stiles remembers it. “This was my decision and it was for the good of the pack.” 

“To destroy our protection?! To destroy our heritage?” 

“To make peace.” Another voice joins in, Stiles turns, and to his shock, sees Alan Deaton walk out of the forest. His face is as calm and unreadable as always. “Peace and balance often require sacrifice. You, of all people, should know this, Irene.” 

The woman, Irene, pulls herself back as her eyes blaze bright blue. “Don’t talk to me of sacrifice, Alan, you lost that right years ago. Alpha,” She turned back to the wolf, “Please, don’t give into this, the hunters may be appeased for the moment but it will never last. They will always see us as monsters, and you just destroyed our best protection.” 

“It’s not your place to question my decisions. What is done, is done, it is not your legacy or family that founded this town, and planted this tree. It was mine, my pack, my choice.” 

The woman reeled back as if she had been struck. When she spoke again, her voice was trembling. “And who came over to the new world with the Hales, who stood at their side and always had their back? Us, my family, we have stood guardian with the Hales for three hundred years in this place.” 

“If you don’t like how I lead, then leave. But I will not tolerate dissension in the pack, Irene, you walk away or you obey me. No other path is open to you. If you stay and challenge me, I will see every one of yours dead and scattered across this land.” 

Irene turned to leave, but paused at the edge of the clearing. Looking back she said, “May this land and pack become a curse to you, Alpha, may you lose all that you hold dear, may your heir betray you and may this land never see peace until the nemeton is avenged.” 

The alpha snarled and moved at her across the clearing but she was gone. He looked as if he was about to go after her but Deaton’s voice stopped him. “Wait, alpha, let her go, she has no power here and nothing she says will affect you.” The alpha snarled but listened. Walking over to Deaton, he stopped and looked at the downed tree. 

“What do we do now with it?” 

“Leave that to me, alpha, I need to cleanse the area and then make sure the nemeton goes dorment.” 

As the alpha left, Stiles kept his attention fixed on Deaton, the druid had a small smile on his face as he turned and looked at the stump. Walking over to the tree part, he broke off a branch and droped it on the ground. After that he slowly walked along both sides of the trunk, make small carvings with a knife. Stiles felt sicker the more marks that were made. It was like the entire forest was crying in pain with every one. He could feel all the plants nearbye shrinking back. The feeling of wrong, wrong, wrong, threatened to choke him, he tried to move towards Deaton, to do what, he didn’t know but everything started to slip into darkness. The last thing he heard was a raven’s caw. 

He woke up to the blaring of his alarm. Eyes half closed, he flailed up and around until he managed to turn it off. His heart was still pounding and he could still feel the grief of the forest. He stumbled out of bed and to the bathroom, he got there just in time to empty his stomach into the toilet. He sat back against the wall, legs trembling, feeeling completely overwhelmed and hopeless. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there but eventually he was able to get his beating heart under control. Moving through the normal morning routine, he felt mildly detached from all of it. He got into school at the very last bell and barely made it into English class just on time. 

Slumping into his seat he turned to check on Scott only to do a double take when he saw Cora sitting next to him. He frowned at her, she smirked back but then scowled as she took in his appearance. She looked like she is about to speak but the teacher started talking before she could. Giving up the idea of paying attention to anything in class today, he pulled out his notebook and started writing down all the details of the drea,. When the bell rang, he bolted out of the door, Cora latched onto him and pulled him to the lockers. Craning around and looking for Scott, he paused briefly, his friend is talking to an unknown dark haired girl. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Hey, who was Scott talking to? Did I miss something?” 

“Just a new girl to the school. What’s wrong?” 

“A new girl? Two weeks into second semester of junior year?” 

Cora sighed and glared. “Stiles. What. Is. Wrong.” 

“Ugg...fine, I had a dream last night of the nemeton and it was really real feeling and it kind of freaked me out.” 

Cora growled, whipped out her phone and started frantically texting. Stiles slumped up against the lockers. He was about to say something more when Scott appeared with the new girl. Scott was giving him a concerned look. 

“Are you ok? You look terrible.” 

“Thank you Scotty, for that rousing endorsement.” 

Cora looked up and scowled at the new girl who was standing there, looking slightly hesitent. Scott glared back at Cora. Stiles sighed deeply and held out his hand towards her. 

“Hi, I’m Stiles, the scowly one with no social skills or manners is Cora.” 

The girl smiled and shook his hand. “I’m Allison.” 

“Nice to meet you Allison, welcome to the glorious Beacon Hills highschool where you may or may not die of boredom or from the intense welcoming committee.” With that he reached out and flicked Cora’s ear. She punched him in return. Allison giggled slightly. 

“Thanks, it’s, uh, different for sure.” 

Scott turned and gave her a dopey grin. Huh. “Ignore them, Stiles tends to forget to sleep when he starts researching something and Cora is just always grumpy.” 

“Your face is grumpy McCall.” 

“That was not your best snarlwo--girl. Scott’s face is like the best of puppy happy faces.” 

“Dude, I don’t even think you even know what that means.” 

“Whatever man, I’m not at my best either. Terrible dreams last night. Anywho, Allison, what class do you have next?” 

They compared schedules, thanks to the tiny size of the highschool she shared classes with either Stiles or Scott for each one. Obviously, there was crossover with Cora as well, but Stiles ignored that as she was a terrible choice at being nice to someone new. Not that Stiles was particularily thrilled to be a guide for the new girl either, but he felt like he owed Scott, and the teen was obviously smitten. 

The morning passed slowly. He wasn’t sure he remembered anything from any of his classes. There was a growing tug inside him and he was feeling itchy, like something was calling him and he had a deep need to answer. Lunch was a bit bizarre as Allison and Cora were sitting with them. He had gotten so used to only having Scott he really wasn’t sure what to do with this. Cora’s usual lunch companions, Erica, Boyd and Isaac were also with them, which was grating on his nerves. He wanted to talk about and explain his dream but couldn’t. Cora seemed to have gotten over her earlier antagonism towards Allison and was engaging in the conversation. 

He pulled out his phone and texted Derek. _can you meet me where you found me the other day?_

The reply was almost instant. _when?_

_in like 20 minutes?_

_yes_

Relief poured through him and he hastily made excuses at the table about needing the bathroom before fleeing the lunch room. Sneaking out of school wasn’t that dificult and soon he was on the road heading to the meeting point. Derek was already there when he arrived which made him inexplixably happy. Derek met him as he got out of the jeep and pulled him into an intense kiss. He let himself sink into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Derek’s shoulders. The arms around his waist and the lips on his, grounded him. Sinking in deeper to the kiss, he was finally able to let go of all the stress for the moment and lose himself in Derek. 

When Derek pulled back, they were both breathing heavily and Stiles could feel that Derek was hard against his leg. A thrill went through him, that he, Stiles could get that reaction out of anyone. He grinned at Derek. 

“Hi.” 

Derek huffed, reached up to run a hand to cup Stiles’ face before leaning in to kiss him again. Stiles moaned and pressed closer, tightening his arms around Derek and using a hand to grip at the wolf’s neck. Derek growled into his mouth and kissed in harder, biting at his lips and shoving his tongue deep into Stiles’ mouth. Derek’s hand on the small of his back felt warm but right, it was like electricity was jolting through him as Derek slowly tucked his fingers under Stiles’ shirt and ghosted over the waistline of his jeans. 

“Well, I admit, this was not what I was expecting.” 

The drawling voice made the two them of spring apart like startled rabbits. Eyes wide, Stiles spun around, trying desperately to calm his racing heart as he stared straight into the amused face of Peter Hale. Derek wasn’t faring much better, maybe even worse, his face was bright red and he was looking anywhere but Stiles and Peter. Stiles still felt a bit like a rabbit, caught in a wolf’s gaze. He stared blankly at Peter, he hadn’t had much time yet to process what Cora and Derek had told him the day before, he had been planning to spend some serious time talking it through with himself and to come up with a plan on how to approach Peter. 

“Uh, well, it’s new?” Stiles cringed, the words came out stuttered and with way too much uncertainty in them. Peter just raised his eyebrow, amusement was clear in his expression as he turned a sharp gaze towards Derek.

“Well, nephew, do you have anything to add?” 

“No.” Derek still wouldn’t meet either of their gazes and was now staring resolutely at the grass. 

“Well, then, as delightful as this has been, I do believe that neither of you are supposed to be out here right now. So, scurry along back home. Separate homes.” 

“I can’t.” As Stiles blurted out the words he realized just how true that was. The tug he was feeling was only getting stronger. 

“What’s wrong?” Peter said, shifting into concerned mode. Stiles looked away, suddenly fighting tears. He was just so tired. Peter hesitantly took a step closer, “Stiles...What’s wrong?” 

“I...don’t even know where to start…” He looked over at Derek but the wolf was apparently still fascinated by the grass. “I just don’t know what to do, gods, it’s just all fucked up, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” The tears were definitely falling now, and he was suddenly overcome with the same fascination with the grass that Derek had. Gentle hands on his shoulder and face made him look up again. 

“Oh Mischief.” Peter said softly before wrapping Stiles up in a hug. With a sob, Stiles fell into the hug and clung to the man in front of him. It felt so good to just let go and let this happen. It was as if the last four years melted away, Peter’s embrace anchored him in a way that no one else had ever been able to do. He kept mumbling out apologies as Peter soothed him. When the sobs receded Peter pulled slightly back. 

“I am going to assume that Derek and Cora told you about what I discussed with them the other day?” At Stiles’ shaky nod, he continued. “I want you to listen to this, please, it is not your fault, whatever feelings or throughts you have had, they were and are valid. Yes, Talia forced my hand, but I also took the easy path. I had options, options that would have kept me from betraying my promise to your mother, your father and you. I still chose others over you, and…” His voice cracked, closing his eyes he leaned his forehead against Stiles’. “I left you, my son, I left...and...I can never make up for that.” 

“No...dad, I know...and I...I don’t think I have been able to process any of this, but I don’t care right now, ok? I just...I need you...please? I’m just so scared, I don’t know what to do.” 

“I’m here. Oh gods, Mischief, I’m here. Talk to me please, tell me what you need.” 

The story was both harder and easier to tell to Peter. Easier because Peter had a much better understanding of how the gods worked than Derek or Cora, but harder because he just wasn’t used to talking to Peter anymore and he had a nagging voice in his head telling him that Peter might leave again if this was too much. When he got to the dream from the last night, he hesitated, but managed to get it all out in the end. Peter was silent for what seemed like an eternity after he had stopped talking. Finally, the older wolf, took a deep breath and leaned down to kiss Stiles on the forehead again. 

“My beautiful, brave boy, I’m so sorry you have been given this burden to carry, but you won’t have to carry it alone.” 

“Do you know what’s going on then?” Derek said, finally speaking up, he had moved closer during the story until he was only inches away from Stiles. 

“Not entirely, I have some theories, but first, I believe Stiles is currently being called to the Nemeton. We need to let him answer this call and go from there. There are journals in the family vault that Talia has forbidden access to that might also have some answers.” 

Walking into the forest with both Peter and Derek by his side felt right. It did take a bit for him to figure out how to follow the tugging feeling. He kept trying to logic out where it was taking him, finally, Peter blindfolded him and then both of the wolves kept steady hands on him to keep him from crashing into anything. It was slower walking this way but much easier to just let the instinct take over. 

Derek and Peter’s quiet, twin huffs of breath, made him tear off the blindfold. There, right in front of them, was the nemeton’s stump. Hesitantly he moved forward. The woods around the nemeton were as silent as in his dreams, the wrong feeling was stronger, it was making his skin crawl with how wrong the whole area felt. A caw made him jump, looking up he saw a lone raven flying down. It landed on the stump and let out another sharp cry. Trembling, he knelt down to place a hand on the stump. The wrongness intensified to the point where he thought he might throw up but he pushed through it, it’s just like any other dying plant, he told himself as he gritted his teeth. 

Slowly, he was able to start to feel more than just wrong, wrong, wrong. He could feel the edges of something green, deep and hidden, a slick, almost oily feel surrounded it. He tried to get his mental fingers around the barrier but it was like trying to peel back a layer of oil on water. He stopped trying to get around it and just simply let himself feel for a few minutes. Something sharp and feathery pushed into his side. Jolting slightly, he almost opened his eyes when the tug returned and he felt his consiousness pulled deep into the very roots of the dormant tree. 

_free us_ , voices whispered at him, _let us heal_ , he was pulled deeper as the voices turned into a panicked frenzy, tugging and pulling at him in desperation. Sharp pain shot through him and his spark surged through the tree. _yes! yes! yes!_. Triumph rushed through him as he felt the green, life, part of the tree pulse and push against the barrier, but then the darkness thrust back, digging their own tendrils into Stiles, the voices gave a loud cry and were silent. 

“Stiles!” Someone was shouting his name and then a howling roar echoed through his ears and mind. He wrenched his hand away from the stump and stumbled backwards into Peter and Derek’s arms. Shaking, he sunk into their warmth. The three of them sat there for some time, holding eachother and waiting for Stiles to recover. Telling them about what he experienced was a struggle and he was amazed he managed to get any of it out. When he finished, they sat there for a while more, just comforting him. 

“Well, I definitely will need to reach out to some people. Carefully, of course.” Peter said, turned a glare to the raven who was still perched on the nemeton’s stump. “You, tell your mistress that us mortals need time. Stiles does not need these extra pushes, he is working on it.” 

“He no longer serves me, wolf.” 

Peter sprung to his feet and faced the goddess. Derek was slower at standing as Stiles wouldn’t let go of him, so Derek had to manuever them both up. Peter eyed the Morrighan warrily, he eyes flicking to the raven then Stiles before landing back on her. 

She let out a low laugh, “Yes, I mean the raven. A mortal who pledges themselves to a god will always serve that god. Ah...you may stop the growling, you know well that any posturing is wasted on me. Service to a god is not always so active, usually it’s rather boring, it’s just luck that brought such a perfect spark to me in this moment and time. Before you roar at me about taking advantage, think about this, he would have died that night, he prayed to me and I saved his life.” 

Her eyes glittered, sharp and black. While she had the appearance of a human woman, there was nothing human about her in this moment. Her voice was smooth and melodious, but underneath it, you could hear the low chant of battle and the cry of death. Stiles shuddered and leaned further in Derek’s warmth. She turned to look at him and Stiles could swear her face shifted into something almost fond. 

Her tone softened as she continued, “This is a heavy burden, Mieczyslaw, I am glad you do not bear it alone. I would give you more answers if I could, but the choices made must always be of the ones making them. The gods may only guide and direct, the rules we follow may not make sense to your mortal minds but believe me, you should be glad we have them.” 

The raven cried out again and flew over to her. She held out an arm for him to land on. Smiling, she stroked him gently and whispered something too soft for Stiles to hear. When she had finished the raven flew straight at Stiles. He jerked backwards and Derek snarled but neither slowed it down. He braced himself for the impact but instead felt something warm fill him. Gasping, he opened his eyes but didn’t see the raven. Confused now, he looked around, Derek was staring at him, eyes wide. 

“What? Where’d it go? Derek?” 

“Uh...it went inside you…?” 

“What.” 

“I’ve heard of this, I’m surprised you haven’t, I always heard Polish sparks in particular would often bond with an animal of their patron god.” Peter’s voice sounded tired. Stiles spun around to look at him, which is when he noticed that the Morrighan was gone. Peter came up to them and encircled them both in his arms. Enhaling deeply, Stiles let himself draw comfort from it. Derek too, shoved his face into Peter and clung to his uncle. 

“Can we go home now?” 

“Yes, pup, let me take you home.” 

Stiles barely remembered the trip out of the preserve and back to his house. He just knew he felt safe, wrapped up in his dad’s arms. He hazily noticed when they got there as he was manhandled out of the car in upstairs into bed. There seemed to be a brief, muttered, argument between Peter and Derek but soon sleep claimed him. Just before he feel asleep, though, he felt arms tighten around him and he smiled. The Morrighan was right, it was a heavy burden, but he didn’t have to bear it alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, we get some Noah/Peter interactions, which may be from Noah's perspective or Peter's. I haven't decided, other than I know Stiles needs to get some sleep and rest from all the emotional moments.


	8. An Evening with Noah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so much fun to write! Lots of Sheriff/Peter feels incoming! :)

Noah’s phone ringing startled him out of the light doze he hadn’t realized he was having. Rubbing his eyes he picked it up and answered before his brain caught up with who was calling him (or that it was his cell he was answering and not the station phone). 

“Sheriff’s department.” 

“Noah, did I wake you?” The amused sounding voice of Peter dragged him out of the last bits of sleep. 

“Peter? What’s wrong?” 

A sigh answered him, he heard some rustling noises in the background. “It’s hard to explain over the phone, you may want to call Stiles out sick for the rest of the day, however.” Groaning, Noah leaned back into his chair. Dammit Stiles. This is not what he needed today. 

“You could have texted me that, what else is going on?” When the silence went on for too long, Noah made his voice quieter to try again. “Peter, is everyone ok?” 

“What? Oh, yes, I’m sorry, I was lost in my thoughts for a moment...it was....an interesting afternoon. To summarize, Stiles exuded too much magical energy and is currently in his bed, sleeping it off, hopefully, oh and I also discovered Stiles and Derek at the northeast preserve entrance engaged in the midst of some very hot and heavy ‘making out’ as I believe the kids call it these days.” 

Noah blinked, startled, his brain stalled and he just blurted out the first thing he thought, “How hot and heavy? Ah hell, shit, wait, isn’t Derek 20?” 

Peter chuckled softly, “Still 19, turns 20 this summer. And don’t worry, everything above clothes, they assured me it was new, so I wouldn’t be too concerned yet. I’m sure you have time to embarress him as much as you desire on the rules of sex.”

“Good. I will. Also, don’t think you managed to distract me from the magical exhaustion part.” 

A laugh greated this. “I wouldn’t dream of believing I would ever manage to distract you from any detail about your son’s welfare. I can stay here until you are off, if that is ok?” Peter’s voice turned slightly hesitant at the end and Noah couldn’t deny the warm feeling he got at Peter wanting to be there for his son. 

“Is Stiles ok with this?” 

“We...talked briefly, I think there is still a lot to discuss but...I hope we are on our way to a better place.” 

Relief and gratitude flooded through him. Trying to control his voice he choked out, “Good, that’s good. Peter, I…” 

“I know, Noah, I know.” 

Noah was gratified to hear that Peter’s voice also came out slightly rough. Pulling himself together he said, “I should let you go and finish up these reports, I’ll try to be home early.” 

“Good, I will get something ready for dinner.” 

Ending the call with Peter, Noah turned his attention to the reports and maps he had all over his desk. Pushing aside his worry about Stiles, he focused on these tasks to try and get them done as quickly as possible. The trouble was that for all the information he had, it just wasn’t enough. The deaths had been ruled murder because the claw marks didn’t fit any known animal, but even with Noah’s rather extensive knowledge of werewolves, they were no closer to figure out who this rogue alpha might be. He was just about to give up and go home when Shawna called from the front desk. 

“Hey Sheriff, there’s a Christopher Argent here to see you.” 

Noah had to bite back a curse, he put on his best professional Sheriff voice and said, “Thanks Shawna, you can send him back.” Shawna hummed in acknowledgement and Noah knew he’d be getting coffee brought to him the next morning with a side of interrogation. Sometimes he wondered if Shawna had been the one to teach Stiles all his son’s methods of getting information. These contemplations were interrupted by the knock on his door. Standing up, he pasted a smile on his face. “Come in.” 

Chris Argent came in with the same profesional smile on. “Sheriff, thank you so much for meeting with me on such short notice. I understand it’s getting late, I assure you, this won’t take long.” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Noah said, shaking the offered hand. “It’s no trouble, though I do appreciate the promise of brevity. I’ve had city council members on my ass all day and I’ll admit, Mr. Argent, I’m not at fighting weight at the moment, so to speak.” 

Argent chuckled and responded, “I’m hoping to actually be able to help relieve some of what is troubling the department.” 

“Oh?” 

“I know I’ve just moved into town but, as you well know with small towns, the stories of the animal attacks are widespread. My family have always been avid hunters for all sorts of game and wildlife and I’m here to offer my services.” 

All sorts of game and wildlife his ass, Noah thought, while resisting the urge to lay into the congenial man in front of him. Instead, he gestured at one of the guest chairs in front of his desk and sat down himself. This was going to take a while. 

“Have you ever been in Beacon Hills before, Mr. Argent?” 

The man in question looked mildly surprised by the question. “A few times...yes, though it has been a while.” 

“Never lived here though?” 

Argent’s brow wrinkled in the very slightest of frowns. “No.” 

Noah forced himself to relax completely. “I apologize for the seemingly non sequitur, I suppose I’m just doing a bad job at asking if you are familiar with the terrain and area for hunting.” 

Argent’s expression lightened again. “Ah, no worries Sheriff, I understand it’s been a long day and week for you, I believe there was a young man attacked by the animal, that must have been rough to smooth over those worries for the populace.” 

Noah gave the hunter a bemused look while inwardly he was cursing up a storm. “I’m impressed with your investigation skills, we’ve tried to keep that quiet in an attempt to not spread panic.” 

“Ah, well, my daughter was my source, actually, she overheard her new classmates talking about it in school today.” 

“Well, I suppose I should have expected that. It’s hard to keep things quiet in a small town like Beacon but even harder to keep teenagers from boasting about war wounds.” He let out a rueful chuckle. He was going to ground Scott into eternity if he found out the boy had been telling tales. For once, he knew the blame would be nowhere near Stiles’ door, his son understood all too well the importance of secrecy. Before Argent could say anything else he kept talking. “I appreciate the offer of help, my only hesitance comes from that the terrain around here can be fairly treacherous when you get past the low hills. We may technically be a police department but he majority of our work is going after lost hikers who overestimated their abilities and severely underestimated how easy it is to get lost in the mountains.” 

“I understand completely, which is why I would be offering to go with your men, I have no desire to become one of the problems.” 

Argent’s words were said with the perfect amount of sincerity. Noah hmmed thoughtfully, his mind was quickly sorting through the various angles this could play out. It could be beneficial to have Argent close in order to have extra eyes on his movements. However, Noah knew that the hunter was doing this in order to keep an eye on the department. This could too easily become a game between the two of them and the stakes were much too high not to take Argent seriously as a threat. Hunters didn’t just hunt werewolves. He had enough stories from Claudia and other Gajos family members, that the very idea of a hunting family like the Argent’s being this close to son, made him want to run them all out of town. In the end though, not knowing where Argent was rankled him much more than knowing he would have to be constantly on his guard. 

“I am glad that it seems like you have considered this carefully. I’d be happy for your help. If you’d like to come by at 8am tomorrow I can get you set up with Luke, our forest expert and he’ll take it from there.” With that, Noah stood up. “I apologize, but I really do need to head home here, my son left school not feeling well and I’ve left him alone for long enough.” 

Argent smoothly got to his feet when Noah did. “Please don’t apologize, I understand completely. I’ll see you in the morning.” With one last handshake and exchange of cordialities the hunter left. 

Noah sagged slightly against his desk, running a hand over his face and through his hair. Dammit. He did not need this on top of everything else. Pulling out his phone he texted Melissa, he knew she had a night shift tonight but would be up by now to have dinner with Scott. He asked her to bring Scott over for dinner. He shot off one more text to Peter, asking if the wolf could make extra food as he needed to talk to Scott and Melissa. He received an affirmative just as he was walking out the door. Shawna gave him a sideways look when he informed her about Argent coming in the next morning. There was definitely an interrogation incoming, hopefully he’d be able to get a pastry or two out of it. 

He called Luke when he got into the car, asking the man to come in a bit early, he gave a brief summary but promised to explain more in the morning. Luke was unsurprisingly confused as they weren’t actually tracking an animal but Noah was able to put him off with promises of explanations and likely pastries. As he pulled into the driveway his phone buzzed with a short text from Tara stating she’d see him at 7am the next morning. Resigning himself to seeing the whole station crew there the next morning he went inside. 

It was these distractions combined with that it had been almost four years since he’d lived with a werewolf that he didn’t think about Peter’s reaction to what scents might be lingering on him. So he really shouldn’t have been surprised that the moment he walked in the door he was accosted by an overprotective, anxiety ridden werewolf, who pushed him against the closed door and immediately started running hands all over him. 

“What happened? Noah? Why do you smell like wolfsbane and Argent? Did he threaten you? Did he threaten Stiles?” 

Peter’s eyes were glowing slightly blue and he was growling. Finishing his examination, the werewolf shoved his face into Noah’s neck and breathed in deeply. Noah wrapped his arms around Peter’s shoulders and rubbed him gently. 

“It’s ok, Peter, it’s ok, I’m ok, he was just there to talk to the Sheriff, nothing more. I’m sorry, I got distracted and I forgot to warn you. He was just fishing for any information on the wild animal attacks, didn’t seem to know we had ruled it murder. Shhhh, it’s ok…” 

The growl turned into a low rumble and Peter sagged against him. “I’m sorry, I just smelled him on you and --” 

“I know, I’m not upset, I should have anticipated this. Really, Peter, it’s ok.” 

Gently, Noah placed a hand on Peter’s face and ran it down to squeeze on the wolf’s neck. Peter let out a pleased rumble. Reluctantly, Noah had to push him up, with a last squeeze he moved away to put away his gun and other equipment. While doing this he gave Peter a brief rundown of the conversation. Peter frowned when he had finished speaking. 

“I assume this is why we are expecting a visit from the McCalls?” 

“Yes, I wanted to check in with Scott and make sure he understands the danger with the Argent’s in town. It’s very probably Argent knows already it was Scott attacked, which means he’ll already suspect that Scott was turned.” 

Scowling Peter said, “This is exactly why I told Talia making a deal with them was a terrible idea. Now we have hunters in our backyard, a newly bitten beta, and, well...I think you should sit down for this next part.” 

Huffing, Noah sat at the kitchen table, and unashamedly watched Peter gracefully move around the kitchen, as the wolf continued to prep for dinner. “I assume this next part has to do with my son? I also assume you found out more than just that your 20 year old nephew is macking on my underage son?” 

Peter shot him an amused grin. “Macking? My, my, Noah, look at you, keeping up with the teenage slang. Again, Derek is 19, and your son, I might add is 17. Also, Derek, as you well know is the most easily guilt tripped or intimidated of my niblings, so I’m sure between the two of us we can keep them safe.” 

“I know, I know...I just, gods, Peter, I know Stiles is old enough but I had gotten so used to his crush on the unattainable Lydia that this just shocked me a bit. I’m still wrapping my head around it.” 

“I was surprised as well. It is impressive that Derek hid his attraction for as long as he has in a house full of werewolves.” 

Noah rubbed between his eyes. “Can we please not talk about attraction for my teenager? I’ve had a rough enough week as it is.” Peter wandered over and began to rub Noah’s shoulders. Groaning, Noah leaned into the warm hands and felt his body start to relax. “I missed this.” The words slipped out and Peter’s hands stilled for a second before continuing. 

“I missed this too.” The confession came out slightly ragged and Noah tilted his head to see a raw and vulnerable look on Peter’s face. “Noah...I can’t ever --” 

Giving into the desire that had been building since the earlier phone call, he surged upwards, gripping Peter’s face, he pulled the man into a kiss. Peter stilled for a moment before he pushed back, hungrily taking control of the kiss. Stumbling backwards, Noah hit the wall with a slight woosh as Peter pressed him in, running warm hands up and down Noah’s back and sides. Peter pulled back, panting slightly as he let his head fall into Noah’s shoulder. Breathing deeply, Noah pressed a kiss to Peter’s forehead. 

“As much as I want to continue this, I believe you still have some more information to tell me.” 

Groaning, Peter pulled back and moved back towards the stove, not before giving Noah one last lingering kiss, though. The Sheriff moved back to the table, fighting back his desire to drag Peter upstairs and to bed. The incoming information was enough to almost completely kill this desire. Of course Stiles would somehow attract the attention of an ancient, Irish goddess of war and death, the boy never did anything halfway. A thump from upstairs made both men pause and wait in silence while the teen in question fumbled around for a few minutes before coming down and into the kitchen. Stiles froze when he entered, wide eyed as he took in the two of them. 

“Uh, hi dad?” 

“A war goddess, really, Stiles.” 

“Not my fault!” Stiles said, yelping and throwing his hands in the air. Noah just raised his eyebrows, Stiles had never done well with silence. “Ugg...fine...sort of my fault…” The teen slumped into one of the other chairs and flopped down with his head on the table. Sighing, Noah reached over to rub the top of his son’s head. 

“No, it’s not, I can’t expect you to be able to predict outcomes like this when you are still just settling into your heritage. However, I can expect you to tell me immediately upon being visited by ancient mythological figures, understood?” 

Stiles cringed backwards and gave him an apologetic look. “I know, I’m sorry dad, I should have...I was just so overwhelmed and I knew you were busy and stressed, I thought I could handle it.” 

“I know, son, but it’s not your job to handle my stress, ok? Now, it looks like you could use a shower. Scott and Melissa are coming over for dinner so hurry up and get to it.” Nodding, Stiles got up to leave but before he was out of the kitchen, Noah got one last word in. “Oh and Stiles? There’s a lot going on right now, but you and I are going to have a very long talk about a certain brooding werewolf later.” 

Stiles turned bright red and turned to Peter. “Snitch!” 

Unrepentant, Peter looked over at the teen. “MmmHmm, that’s me, the snitch.” 

“Ugg...you are both the worst…” With that final shot, Stiles went back upstairs and soon Noah heard the water running. Amused, he turned to look at Peter. 

“You sure you want back in this? Being the worst is a hard title to carry.” 

Peter’s lips twitched, “I think I can survive it. I did have to survive Laura and Derek’s teenage angst.” 

Noah felt a soft smile pull at his lips, “I know you can.” Peter smiled back and turned his attention to cooking. Noah grabbed a beer out of the fridge and settled into one of his favorite pastimes of Peter watching. The intense concentration Peter had when he made food, had always been enjoyable to watch. Words had been difficult for Peter when he was first living with them, he had struggled with how to accept and then return the easy love and affection that the Stilinski family shared. Cooking had quickly become a way that the wolf was able to show his appreciation and care for them and Noah had been happy to let him do that. So this, now, watching Peter move fluidly around the kitchen, brought back the happier memories and Noah let himself bask in the moment. 

It came to an end all too soon when the McCalls arrived and Stiles bounded back downstairs to engage in furious whispering with Scott. Melissa gave Peter some serious side eye and Noah artfully avoided her questioning gaze. Stiles must have texted Scott as the new werewolf didn’t seem that phased. He waited until they were mostly done with dinner before broaching the topic. 

“Scott, I heard that there is a rumor around your school of a teenager who got attacked by a wild animal in the preserve last week.” 

“Where did you hear that?” Scott said, shooting Stiles a frantic look. 

Noah raised an eyebrow. “Does it matter?” 

“Yes! Because there isn’t one, or at least, shouldn’t be one, I didn’t say anything, I --” 

“Scott,” Peter interrupted the teen, “you do remember werewolves can hear when someone is lying? Now, this is important, who did you tell?” 

The teen looked guiltily at Noah. “Just...well, at lunch today, Isaac said it was amazing I hadn’t actually been mauled to death and Allison asked me --” 

“Hold up, who’s Allison?” Noah straightened, feeling a tremor of concern go through him. 

“Uh, she’s new and she’s amazing, so gorgeous and has dark, curly hair and beautiful eyes…” The teen trailed off. 

“Last name?” Peter said, his voice was on edge, Noah shot him a look, but the older wolf ignored him. 

“Um, A something? I don’t remember.” 

“Is it Argent?” Stiles surprised them all by butting in, his voice was hard and his gaze intense. Scott stared at his best friend in surprise and then nodded. Turning to Noah, Stiles continued, “Let me guess, Chris Argent came by your work after school got out.” 

“I’d ask how you knew that there were Argent’s in town but something tells me I don’t want to know.” Noah said, feeling resigned. 

“Of course I know if the fucking Argents are in town!” Throwing his hands in the air and ignored Noah’s muttered ‘language’ reprimand, he went on. “Like I’m ever going to take any chances with the Argents, you,” he whirled to look at Scott, “need to stop speaking to her. Delete her phone number from your phone and don’t contact her ever again.” 

“Stiles --” 

“Dude!” 

Noah and Scott spoke at the same time. Seeing that Scott was too shocked to say anything more Noah took back over. “Scott, there are some things we need to tell you about the Argents. But, Stiles, while I understand your reasoning, it’s not necessarily your place to give orders like that to Scott.” Ignoring his son’s outraged face, he turned back to the McCalls and explained about the hunting side of the supernatural community and then specifically about the Hale fire and his and Peter’s suspicions about Kate Argent. By the time he had finished, Melissa had paled considerably and Scott was shooting sad looks at Peter. During Noah’s explanation, Peter had pulled into himself and was staring resolutely at the table in front of him, hands clenched out of sight. Noah reached under the table to twine his hand with Peter’s, the other man gripped onto his hand tight. 

Predictably, it was Stiles who first broke the silence. “So, you see now, Scott, why you have to avoid her, she’s probably there to spy on the Hales and now that the Argents know about you too...you just can’t get close to her.” 

Scott’s expression was mulish as he glared at Stiles. “No, I don’t see, Allison is our age, and she might not even know about this...stuff, and your dad just said, they don’t think Mr. Argent was even here during the fire. Allison is super nice, she wouldn’t hurt anyone.” 

Noah jumped in quickly, recognizing the signs of a Stiles explosion about to happen. “Scott, please cut Stiles some slack here, this subject is very hard for us. Understand that the idea of losing you as well is something we are all afraid of. You are right, we don’t know if Chris Argent was involved, but I do know Kate was, I just didn’t have enough proof. Please just be careful, don’t go anywhere alone with Allison and watch what you say to her, ok?” 

Scott shot a look at Stiles and then back to Noah. “I...ok. I’m sorry Stiles, I...don’t want you to lose me either.” 

Shooting a glance at Peter, Noah caught him rolling his eyes. Giving the wolf a stern look, he turned to Melissa. “Mel, I know this is a lot to dump on you, are you ok?” 

“Honestly, I have no idea. It’s been a hell of a week. I do know one thing, Scott, you listen to Noah and Stiles with this. I know it feels impossible because you like this girl, but your safety is more important.” 

“Not just Scott.” Peter said, his sharp voice cutting through the tension. Melissa and Scott both gave him confused looks. “Hunters don’t just hunt werewolves and a lot of them don’t take the time to understand anything new or different they come across. Stiles is in danger as well from them. Potentially more so than Scott, magic users who aren’t allies or controlled by hunters, are often not even given us a chance to live.” 

“What. Dude, you have magic??” Scott spun around, staring at Stiles incredulously. 

Stiles gave the other teen a blank look. “Dude, how did the whole goddess story from yesterday not clue you into that. Yes, I have magic, yes, hunters hunt magic users too, especially sparks like me. I’ve heard lots of stories from my grandfather about relatives who were killed by hunters.”

With a horrified expression, Scott looked back at Peter then Noah before nodding. “I won’t let anyone hurt Stiles. I’ll be careful, I promise.” 

Noah smiled at him. “Thank you Scott, that’s all we ask. Please also don’t mention Stiles’ magic to anyone. We have tried to keep it under wraps and to avoid notice.” 

The rest of the conversation went quickly after that. Melissa needed to get to work and they decided Scott should spend the night. Noah let the two boys disappear upstairs before going over to the couch and collapsing into it. Peter followed him and had soon arranged them on the couch so he was wrapped in and around Noah and began cuddling him aggressively. Chuckling, Noah just let it happen. This was another thing he had learned quickly about Peter, it was always easier to just give into however Peter chose to cuddle, the wolf was stubborn and always won in the end anyways. The two men just laid there for a long while, finding comfort in each other. 

When he started to feel his eyes droop, he roused himself enough to untangle from Peter and pull himself off the couch. The wolf growled and grumbled, trying to weigh him down. Rolling his eyes, he said, “You know, if you let me get up and go to the place to sleep that won’t hurt my back, I’ll let you undress me.” The words had their intended effect and soon both men were in the bedroom and Peter was manhandling him onto the bed while peeling his clothes off and attempting to kiss every inch of exposed skin. Noah just let go of the anxieties of the day and enjoyed being able to let his hands wander all over Peter’s own skin as the wolf started to pull moans of pleasure out of him. “Peter…” He managed to get out, his voice rough and breaking. 

Peter stilled and dragged himself up to the older man’s face, the wolf’s eyes were soft and desperate. “Please, Noah, please just let me make you feel good, I need this, I need you…” How was he supposed to say no to that. Tangling his fingers in Peter’s hair he dragged the man down for a kiss, long and deep. 

“I’m all yours. I’ve always been yours.” 

Peter’s eyes blazed bright blue and he growled. “Mine.” He murmured, as he moved to Noah’s neck, sucking a bruise into the skin. 

Later, when they were both sated and Peter was dozing, half on top of him, Noah smiled as he ran a hand through his lover’s hair. They still had a lot to work out, they had years of pain between them, but he knew they would get there in the end, they would be all right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as I stated before I messed with everyone's ages because canon already is messed up with ages. Stiles is in his junior year and is 17, Derek is 19 so he was 15 at the fire and Kate didn't happen to him. Cora is 16, almost 17 and Laura is 22, she was a senior and 18 at the time of the fire. 
> 
> I think we will be getting more Stiles and Scott bro time next chapter, also more Allison, potentially a Chris Argent classic intimidation scene but I'm not positive about that one yet. We will be back to Stiles, though I am definitely going to do another Noah one at some point because this was fun.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I got super distracted with finishing my other story 'How it's meant to be.' It's finished now, just need to edit so I can focus on getting this one done for a while. :) Though with every chapter I write for this, I keep accidentally making the plot and world more complicated.

School on Wednesday felt a little surreal. He had woken up that morning to Peter making breakfast in the kitchen, shirtless, it had brought back so many memories that instead of the sarcastic outcry he wanted to make about shirtless Peter he ended up crying. He had managed to pull himself together with only minimal cuddles needed and before Scott made his way downstairs. Derek showing up not long after brought another level to the surrealness. 

His...boyfriend (?) was there to drive both him and Scott to school, which, what. Stiles’ protests about neglecting poor Roscoe were ignored completely, he soon realized that this was all part of his dad and Peter’s evil plans to make sure Stiles wouldn’t disappear into the forest alone, ever, again. 

There were also rules now for how much time Stiles was allowed to spend on researching fixing the Nemeton. The journal his cousin had sent was confiscated and he was told he was only allowed to work on it once his homework was complete for the day. Peter also said he was going to look for any books or information he could find in the Hale vault, but Stiles would only be allowed one book at a time and he would only be given a new one once he had at least 8 hours of sleep after finishing the last one. 

Needless to say, the rest of breakfast had been passed in intense sulk mode, Derek and Scott, the traitors, refused to meet Stiles’ outraged gaze and instead actually engaged with the evil dictators that seemed to be intent on taking over his life. He grumpily folded himself into the backseat of the camaro when it was time to leave and glared at the headrest of Derek’s seat the entire drive. Upon arrival, Cora was already waiting for them, texting furiously on her phone. She smirked at Stiles’ sulking and made kissy faces at Derek, this led to a whole other crisis for Stiles when he turned and realized guiltily that he had been kind of unfair to the born wolf this morning and they hadn’t really talked since the intense make out session yesterday afternoon. He moved forward, hesitantly, only for Derek to give him a quick nod and practically throw himself into the camaro and drive away. It hurt far more than Stiles had expected it to. 

Scott and Cora had somehow become actual friends, which was actually kind of nice because it was easier for Stiles to stay quiet as he furiously ran through all his options. He had been hoping he would be able to talk Derek into helping him sneak past all the new guards, but now it was looking like Derek was going to become one of his new guards. Cora was completely on Peter’s side, Scott was only a little less than useless when it came to sneaking on his best days and the week of the full moon would not be anywhere close to even a good day. 

In English class, Scott gave Allison a super dopey grin when she came in. Cora, (oh shit, they had forgotten to update Cora on the danger) gave her a smile as well and the three of them started chatting. Scott, to his very slight credit, kept shooting half guilty looks at Stiles. He rolled his eyes at his best friend, and in a fit of bitterness at his dad and Peter for ignoring him at breakfast when he had tried to explain the tugging urgency he was feeling over the Nemeton, he discretely gave Scott a thumbs up and a grin. 

The rest of the day was agony, the crawling feeling inside of him just kept getting worse, he had been able to hold it off other days because it would fade a bit whenever he was actively researching things about it. At lunch time, he deeply regretted giving Scott his tacit approval about Allison because Scott had somehow decided that meant he had full permission to flirt and chase after. The only upside to this new obsession was that he only had Cora to escape during study hall. He waited until Cora was properly distracted by Isaac and quickly made his way to the library. 

He went immediately to the history section and pulled out all the books he could find on the early town settlers. The Hales were prominent in the early records as the founders of the town, who had led a group of people fleeing persecution (the type of persecution wasn’t mentioned). A few other names were mentioned but all ones that only had lasted a couple generations or so, none that seemed to stick out as ones that would have been around until the last few decades. He was about to give up that area of research as he flipped one book closed in disgust, when he noticed that in the front, under the author was a note saying ‘Edited by Adaline Hale, 1965’. 

Holy shit, had the Hales censored these? Quickly, he flipped through all the books and saw that they were all either written by, or edited by Hales. They were also all published in the last 40 years. Excitement raced through him, he had dates to work with now. Unknowingly, the Hales had given him exactly what he needed to know where to look next. He would find this mysterious Irene and her family, a rush of approval flooded through him and he froze, he had felt movement on his arm. Dragging up his sleeve he stared wide eyed at the totally realistic raven that was _flying_ up and down his arm. He gaped at it for a minute and then he could have sworn he heard it caw, and it winked at him. Hastily, he pulled his sleeve back down. He was so not ready for the existential crisis of having a raven living on his skin. 

After classes finished he trailed after Scott to the locker room to get ready for practice. He threw all his pent up energy into playing and actually did pretty decently, not enough to play in a game but not terrible either. Scott, of course, did amazing, which left Coach drooling and the other team members gaping at the new wolf. Stiles did almost have a heart attack when he looked up into the bleachers and saw Allison sitting with Lydia. It made him super stressed for the rest of practice and every time Scott did an amazing feat he winced, hoping that Allison wasn’t there to police Scott’s actions. As practice was nearing its end, he saw Derek lurking by the edge of the bleachers. The older wolf was alternating between glaring daggers towards where Allison was sitting and at Scott’s theatrics on the field. Well, shit, this was sure to be a fun drive home. 

The conversation when they all got into the car went about as well as Stiles thought it would go. 

“ --no, you’re not listening to me Scott. You can’t just suddenly be amazing at a sport that you previously had no skill in!” 

“I did have skill in lacrosse, I’d been working on it all fall, I only couldn’t play as hard because of my asthma, which is gone now.” 

“That makes it even worse,” Derek said, his rumble growl hadn’t turned off since the two boys got into the car and Stiles was getting a tad distracted by how hot that was, “you need to at least fake some asthma attacks and still carry your inhaler, you can’t just be magically cured.” 

“Derek no! If I have an asthma attack Coach won’t let me play in a game, that’s his rule, I can’t now play, I finally have the chance to be normal and it’s so unfair for you to try and take that away from me.” 

“Life isn’t fucking fair Scott!” 

They had arrived at the Stilinski house but well, Stiles had not thought this through when he had claimed the back seat again. Now he was stuck, all crunched up, with two angry werewolves between him and freedom. 

“Hey, you with your stupid fancy house and your stupid perfect parents and all the money, looks and athleticness don’t get to tell me that. My life has never been normal ok? And those inhalers are expensive and my mom is barely affording our mortgage as it is, not paying for inhalers and the doctor visits could really help her.” 

“Scott I swe --” 

“Fuck you dude!” 

Scott opened the door, slamming it shut again and stormed into the Stilinski house, leaving Stiles, still crunched in the back seat and a fuming Derek behind. Stiles attempted to wriggle up to see if he could lower the seat from the back and nope, luck was definitely against him today. He made several plaintive noises but Derek was still glowering at the house and ignored him. Giving up, he sat back with a huff, giving Derek a once over as he did so. 

“Gods, you’re so hot like the sun, how in the nine hells does someone like you go after a total spaz like me?” Derek stiffened in his seat and Stiles slapped a hand over his face, brain to mouth filter was obviously not engaged, he hadn’t even realized he had said that out loud. They sat there in an uncomfortable silence and Stiles felt something like dread creep over him. Looking away, he finally got out in a low voice. 

“I take it by this incredibly awkwardness, that you in fact, don’t want my spaztic self anymore? Dude, no, don’t look at me all pathetic like right now, I just…” He rubbed his face furiously, trying to ward off tears. “Can you let me out? I’ll go try and talk Scott back in so you can take him back to his house.” 

“Stiles…” Derek began awkwardly, “I...look, it’s not about you, ok? I’m sorry I pushed you like I did. It wasn’t right of me. You’re still in highschool and underage --” 

“What? Seriously, that’s your issue right now? Derek, you’re only two years older than me, what the hell. If you just had some sort of weird desire to kiss me, fine, just own up to it and don’t make these bull shit excuses are not helpful. I know I’m not attractive and I talk too much and am obnoxious, I just wish...shit...just let me out man.” 

Derek clenching the steering wheel tight, taking several deep and steady breaths. Finally he gritted out. “I just can’t right now, ok? There is just too much going on and you’re compromised because of the Morrighan, it’s not you, ok? I like you, I have for a while, god, your lips and hands, it’s a struggle not to just go back there and be all over you.” 

Stiles kicked the back of Derek’s seat. Derek jolted and spun around and stared at him. “Let. Me. Out.” He said, teeth gritted together, rage was burning through him. Nodding, Derek got out and shifted the seat forward so Stiles could pull himself out. Once he got himself out and untangled, paused before entering the house to say, “You, Peter, my dad...you all are acting like I am a child right now, that I can’t take care of myself or know myself well enough to know what I’m doing. Fuck. I can’t believe you said that, compromised...shit. I’ll go get Scott now.” 

It took him another ten minutes to cajole Scott into going home and to cut Derek a break and by then he was feeling strung out and he just wanted to cry. Yesterday had been so wonderful, he’d gotten Peter back, he thought he had a boyfriend, his best friend was in school with him again, Peter was going to help him with the nemeton but then today it had all come crashing down. Feeling hollow, he went to work on homework. He got several texts from Derek, all some sort of apology or begging Stiles to understand where he was coming from. Stiles ignored them all. 

His dad texted at six, saying he’d be home late but Peter was coming over. Still feeling irritated with the man, he didn’t respond to that either and when Peter got there, Stiles stayed in his room and ignored the call for dinner. He knew it was petty but he just turned up the music when the knock on his door came. Peter, unlike his dad, wasn’t the type to let Stiles sulk out his teenage angst in peace. The werewolf pushed the door open and before Stiles could let out any form of protest, he’d tossed the teen over his shoulder and hauled him down the stairs and plopped him at the table. 

“All right. Talk. Or, if you don’t talk to me, I’m going to go upstairs and perform a werewolf aided search of your bedroom and leave out anything interesting I find for you to talk about with your father later.” 

Stiles flung his arms out, “so that’s so uncool!” 

“Stiles, since when have I ever cared about being cool?” 

“Arggg…” He thumped his head on the table. Peter just continued to stand there with his arms crossed. “Fine.” With a last grumble, Stiles gave Peter the rundown of the day. how he’d messed up and accidentally given Scott leeway to chase after Allison, the talk with Derek and how the tugging feeling was giving him a headache plus all his joints were aching with the need to go out and do something with the nemeton. 

During this, Peter had sat down and taken his arm up to start to draw some of the pain he was feeling. Stiles almost slumped over in relief, he hadn’t been aware just how much pain he’d been in. Peter scowled at this and grumbled angrily about goddesses who didn’t take mortal tolerances into mind when they set impossible tasks for teenagers. Stiles leaned against Peter when he had finished, rumbling softly in his chest, the wolf pulled the teen into him and held him close. 

“I’m sorry, Stiles, I should have asked more questions before assuming I knew how you were feeling or what you needed. We got so worried about you when we saw how exhausted you were that we acted in haste. Derek….well, go easy on him, he’s never found it easy to go against his family or his mother. He knows she would be angry at him for all this and I do believe your father cornered him earlier today and said several pointed things about the age difference which probably made him more panicked than it should have.” 

“Great...another aspect dad wants to control in my life.” 

Peter chuckled warmly, “He’s just concerned and you know it. We are going to help you, pup, I promise.” 

After that, Stiles made him sit up and eat dinner. He still felt ansty and on edge but Peter pulled out another old book he had found, written by a spark emissary of the Hales over a hundred years ago. When they were finished eating, the two of them sat down to make notes in it together. What was in it was fascinating. 

The Nemeton, apparently, was planted by the Hales when they had originally come to the land over three hundred years ago. It had been an oak seed taken from their homeland and the nemeton there had given it to them as a gift to protect them when they claimed their new home. The purpose of a Nemeton was to strengthen a pack, which, according to the emissary should not just be made of wolves, but also humans and other supernatural creatures. The emissary stated that wolf packs without Nemetons often kept the amount of wolves small and only rarely added non wolves but having the ancient tree there would give the alpha the strength to protect more. 

The alpha and the emissary were supposed to bond with the Nemeton and land it was connected to through offering drops of blood every new moon, along with spending time walking and getting to know the land it was one. They should regularly walk the territory lines, using their connection with the ancient oak to strengthen how they could feel the land. Even more than just protection, they were expected to know and offer help and guidance to any supernatural creatures that came to live near them. 

By the time Noah had gotten home, they had gotten through about a fourth of the book. Peter was looking troubled as he greeted Noah with a kiss and ran him through briefly what the book said. Stiles barely noticed this as he was frantically moving through all his notes and adding the new information with what he’d managed to get out of his ancestor’s journal. It was all building up to it being a very bad thing that Talia and Peter’s father had cut down the nemeton. 

“Hey, uh, so if this is all correct, then if a nemeton is cut down and forced to go dormant like in the dream I had...then, it cuts off all that protection it was giving, leaving the area vulnerable and more likely for bad things to happen. Like…” He trailed off as the reality of that hit him. 

“Like the fire.” Peter finished softly. Noah sat down next to him and gripped the man’s shoulder. 

“What all this doesn’t say though, is what do we do about it? I’m flipping through here but all I can see is just more about the different types of creatures and magic users that used to live here and advice and ways the alpha and spark helped them all coexist. Nothing about how to revitalize it. Also, we don’t have any idea how Deaton made it go ‘dormant’...maybe if we knew that we could fix it?” 

“I’ll have to keep looking through the books, however, it looked like there were some missing. This one was stuff behind some very boring works that go into great and unnecessary detail on the hundreds of plants that can grow in the forest and how to cultivate them. So it’s probable that anything to do with the nemeton was removed.” 

“That makes sense! Oh shit, I forgot to tell you about what I found in the school library today.” Stiles said before launching into what he had discovered with the publishing and editing dates. When he finished, they were all silent. 

Noah leaned back in his chair and groaned. “Well, shit. Ok, here’s what we are going to do. Tomorrow, after school Stiles, you can go to the town library. I know they keep all the original copies of the books printed about the town. Search through them and make photo copies of anything interesting. Peter, keep looking at the town vault. I will go talk to Scott again. But right now, we need to relax, let’s watch some tv and then go to bed.” 

Stiles gave into this with only cursory grumbling. He tried to finagle keeping the new book with him but was still shot down. Peter assured him they would help him every day so the tugging wouldn’t hurt too much but he still needed his rest. After they had all shut off the tv and went up to bed, he waited until he could hear his dad and Peter getting distracted by each other and snuck back downstairs to liberate the book to hide it amidst his school things in his backpack. 

Thankfully, Peter had to leave early the next morning so he totally did not notice the missing book. Stiles was also allowed to drive himself to school. He left to get there early, Scott and Cora wouldn’t be in anyways, as the full moon was tonight and no one wanted Scott to be at school for that. Casually sitting on one of the picnic tables near the entrance, he grinned when he saw Chris Argent pull up to drop Allison off. He waited until she was almost by him when he called out. 

“Hey, Allison, want to sit a minute?” She startled slightly but turned to come towards him. He waved her into sitting. 

“Hi Stiles, thanks, I wasn’t looking forward to having to sit in class by myself for 20 minutes. I thought you came with Scott?” 

“Scott won’t actually be in today, Cora either, full moon tonight, you know.” He said, watching Allison carefully. She just looked at him confusedly. 

“What does the full moon have to do with them not being in school?” 

“Oh, you didn’t know? I assumed your dad would have told you, it’s because they’re werewolves.” 

Allison blinked at him before laughing. “Good one, Stiles, you almost had me there for a minute, werewolves, god.” She snorted again before shaking her head. It was Stiles' turn to stare at her blankly. 

“Seriously? They haven’t told you any of it? What do you think your family does for a living?” 

Now she frowned at him. “My dad owns and runs Argent Arms, we sell firearms to law enforcement.” 

“Sure, to pay the bills, but haven’t you ever wondered why you guys have all that weird ammo, or why the hell he stocks crossbows and knives? What about the flashbangs and smoke bombs? Crossbows are because the coat the shaft in wolfsbane, then the wolf can’t heal while it’s inside them and burns their hands when they try and pull it out, the flashbangs are for blinding them because their eyes are more sensitive than humans, oh and the smoke bombs are filled with wolfsbane as well, it poisons them, the wolfsbane.” 

“Stiles...this isn’t funny anymore.” Allison was looking a little pale as she said this. 

Stiles just leaned forward and gave her an intense look before continuing on. “You are right. It’s not funny at all. Just like it’s not funny that four years ago, your aunt taught school here and cozied up to the Hales saying she was trying to just learn more about werewolves and not be prejudiced. What’s not funny is that three months after she started teaching here someone somehow snuck up to the Hale house, made a circle of mountain ash around the whole building and set it on fire with a blazing arrow. It was shot in a room that an eight year old was in. The arrow head was packed with an explosive, but because the eight year old was a werecoyote, she wasn’t killed instantly.” 

Stiles had to pause and look away as he blinked back tears. Allison was just sitting there now, still staring at him like he was crazy, it made him angry, angry that she could just sit there, when everything about her family was such a threat to his. So he kept going. 

“Three people died in that fire, it was only chance that I happened to be close to the house that day. I was trying to sneak up and in, because you know what? That eight year old was my sister. I knew she wasn’t happy being there so I was going to the house to sneak her out and play with her outside. I came up and I saw men throwing smoke bombs in and they were laughing. I heard a woman too, didn’t see her, I just ran forward and screamed at them. They ran away so I could break the mountain ash line and the family could get out. It was too late for Malia, she was too injured and the pack members all had burns and poisoning from the wolfsbane. I saw her though, she was still breathing when I saw her, not for long, all her skin had melted and she was screaming.

Allison finally found her voice. “That’s horrible. But...how...my family didn’t do that, and werewolves don’t exist. I don’t know why you just made up and told me that horrible story, but don’t come near me again, Stiles, I don’t know why you hate me to make up such terrible things, just...stay away.” She got up to leave but he reached out and grabbed her wrist. 

“I didn’t make up anything. Ask anyone in town about the fire, they don’t know the werewolf part, but they can all tell you the fire part. You Aunt Kate was arrested even, but a fancy lawyer got her off. She called them monsters to my dad’s face. I don’t hate you Allison, I hate your family and I will not let them take anymore of my family away from me. Peter might be forbidden from going after them because of Talia’s orders but I don’t answer to her. You can tell him that too.” 

She was crying now and wrenched away from him to flee into the school. He rubbed a hand over his face and slumped over. What the hell had come over him? He had only planned on trying to find out if she knew about werewolves and why she was here. But instead he’d just dumped it all on her. Shit. They were all going to be so pissed with him. By now, most of the students had arrived and were making their way into school. Glancing at it, he decided he did not feel up to forcing his way through classes today. Mind made up, he went back to his jeep and drove off into town towards the library. He might as well get something useful done with his. Irene here I come, he thought, I hope you are ready for me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time...we find out Chris Argent's reaction to the info dump Stiles gave Allison and Stiles gets closer to finding Irene.


	10. Chapter 10

Not giving himself a chance to think about the verbal lashing he’d just given to an almost complete stranger, (a distant part of his brain knew that as soon as he sat down and actually thought about it, guilt would set in), Stiles dove straight into research at the library. To his luck, the librarian on duty didn’t seem all that concerned with his presence there so he was able to work unhindered. 

Four hours later he finally hit gold in a newspaper account from 1960 that mentioned that an Irene Oakes had organized the pageant show for the founders festival along with Adaline Hale. With a surname to go off of, he was able to fairly quickly find more information on the Oakes family. They had come to the area with the Hales and while not as prominent, still showed up everywhere in the old accounts of the town. Copying down any useful information he was in the midst of analyzing it spread out all around him on the floor of the library when a hand gripped the back of his hoodie and dragged him up. Giving a yelp, he twisted around only to try and wilt his way back to the floor, Noah Stilinski’s grim face staring straight back at him. 

“Hi dad…” 

“Son.” 

“Um, so, I found Irene?” 

His dad just continued to stare at him hard and unyielding. Stiles tried to will himself to disappear but like always, it didn’t work. 

“I know, I know, I am supposed to be in school...I just...this is so much more important right now! Dad…” 

Letting go of his hoodie, his dad gave a deep sigh and rubbed his face. The resigned look on the man’s face felt like a punch in the gut. There was nothing Stiles hated more than disappointing his dad, unfortunately he just couldn’t seem to stop doing it. Blinking back tears, he looked away. 

“Pack all this up and let's go get lunch.” Noah said finally. 

Wincing, Stiles did just that and soon the two Stilinski’s were on their way over to the local cafe and eatery. They walked the short distance in silence and now that he wasn’t distracted by the urgent need for research, Stiles began to feel intense guilt creeping in for both his outburst with Allison and not respecting his dad’s orders. He just knew he was losing both his driving privileges again, along with any trust he might have gained. This meant by the time they sat down and ordered food, he was feeling utterly miserable, he couldn’t seem to be able to stop fucking up. 

“I’m sorry, Stiles.” 

He was startled out of his morose thought spiral. “Wait, what are you sorry for? I’m the one who fucked up…” 

His dad huffed, “Language and yes, however, I did as well. Shawna pointed out to me this morning when I was grumbling about angsty teenagers that said angsty teenager wasn’t used to this level of parental involvement and it sounded normal to her that you were fighting back against it. She also pointed out to me that I really shouldn’t expect my brilliant kid that had ADD to be able to just stop a research fixation because I said so. And she was right, not, that this is getting you out of punishment, mind you. Just that I have been going about this the wrong way.” 

“No, dad, it’s not your fault. I…” Stiles gulped and hunched up. “...really messed up earlier. I can’t just blame the ADD for this one…” Blinking back tears, he managed to stutter out the gist of what he’d said to Allison Argent. When he finished, instead of the anger he’d been expecting to see, his dad just looked slightly wrecked. 

“Oh, Stiles...son…” Noah paused and ran a hand over her face and chuckled without humor. “I think you know by your tone and posture that it was not only unkind to throw all that in a young girl’s face but also not the smartest move when it comes to keeping an eye on the Argents movements.” 

Stiles nodded woodenly. “I know. And I’m sorry. I just, she was just coming to school and smiling and all happy, and Malia...Malia will never get to do that and I just got so angry and I wanted her to hurt, and I shouldn’t have done it, I wish I hadn’t done it.” 

Noah reached out and gripped his shoulder tight. “Well, it’s done now, we will handle any fall out. It isn’t the end of the world. I do expect you to apologize to Allison, even if she won’t accept it, you need to give one.” 

“Ok...yeah...ok.” 

“As for skipping school, well, I think we need to sit down and hash out some new ground rules for figuring out this mystery you are in the middle of right now. I think, both Peter and I let our fear for you push too many restrictions on you. We just want you to find balance son, I don’t want you to make yourself collapse and put yourself at risk over this. You have support systems for a reason. I know you and I have gotten really used to it just being the two of us, and I latched onto Peter’s help too quickly when it came to parenting you. We’ll figure this out, ok?” 

Stiles nodded fervently. “Ok, yeah, I’m sorry. You’re right though, I’m just not used to Peter and I was pissed he was trying to control my life when he’d been gone for so long, I know it doesn’t make me disobeying right...I shit, dad, I really got the angst filled teenager thing down, don’t I?” 

Noah laughed, “Well, I guess I was due for it. Now, let’s eat and you can tell me what you found out about Irene.” 

After they finished lunch, Noah made Stiles go back to the station and spend the afternoon in the file room, working on digitizing all their old cases. It was a common punishment so Stiles went to it with no complaining this time. He had spent a couple hours there when Shawna came to direct him to clean out the staff room refrigerator. She ignored his moans and hauled him along in there by his ear. As he cleaned, she started in on an interrogation that would have made the most hardened criminal give in. He found himself telling her everything that had happened in the last two weeks, even being honest about his screw ups and about Derek. Which, gods, Derek...he’d really been unfair to him. 

By the time he’d finished the whole story, he’d been long done with the fridge and they had moved to the couch in the corner. Shawna pulled him into a deep hug at the end and he let go and cried into her shoulder. She had been one of the rocks that helped both the Stilinski men survive when Peter had left, it was also when an angsty pre-teen Stiles had spilled the werewolf beans to her. She had taken it all in stride and been a firm ally since. 

Shawna pulled him out to the front desk with her and sent Linda off to work on other office work while she plunked Stiles down in front of the computer so he could work on the organizing of the station’s digital system. This of course meant that he had a front row seat when Chris Argent stormed into the building. The hunter stopped at the front desk, visibly pulled himself together and gave what should have been a charming smile to Shawna but instead looked like he was one step away from killing someone with his smile. 

“Can you let the Sheriff know that Chris Argent is here to see him?” 

Shawna gave him her most insincere smile in return. “Of course, Mr. Argent, if you would please take a seat I’ll see if he has time for you this afternoon.” 

Argent’s smile twisted slightly. “Please inform him that this visit is of a more personal nature and if he is unavailable I would be happy to take my complaint of his bias and lack of discretion to the mayor.” 

Shawna’s smile did not waver. “If this complaint is of a personal nature then I fail to see why it would require a visit to the mayor, or even here during office hours. I would be happy to take a message for you so that the Sheriff can contact you once he is off duty.” 

Stiles had to exercise control over every muscle in his body to not let out a cheer at that response. Argent’s face lost the smile completely and he gave Shawna a long hard look. She smiled sweetly back at him before continuing to speak. 

“If you do not wish to leave a message, I’m going to have to ask you to please clear the area, this waiting room is reserved for those residents of our county who have actual police business to discuss.” With that dismissal, she reached over to pick up a stack of files. “Stiles, would you please bring these to Deputy Parrish?” 

Argent’s furious gaze now landed on him and he gave Shawna a slightly betrayed looked. The glint in her eye though made him practically spring up and with a hasty, “Of course, no problemo.” he dashed out of the front area. Dropping the files off at Parish’s desk he beelined to Tara’s office. Thanking the deities she was not on a call he rushed in without knocking. 

“Stiles, I do believe you are supposed to be with either Shawna or in the records room.” Tara said, without looking up from the report she was filing. 

“I know, I know, but Tara, you gotta help me, please, I fucked up earlier and now Mr. Argent is here and threatening to go to the mayor and tell him that dad is biased against their family and shouldn’t be the sheriff because of it, and please oh please, help.” 

Calmly, Tara set her pen down, laced her hands in front of her and gave Stiles her best teacher look that never failed to make him reveal all his dirty secrets. In a rush of babble he stumbled through his mess up with Allison and that he’d basically told her that they knew Kate did it, so he’d given up confidential case information. He cringed as the look turned to one of disappointment. Gods, he just wanted this day to be over...but if he got his dad in trouble he’d never forgive him. It was better to admit what he had done to Tara and Shawna and really, the whole damn department, before he let his dad get blamed for his screw up. 

“Go wait in your dad’s office and let him know what is going on. I’ll handle this Stiles.” 

Stiles slunk over to his dad’s open office door and as silently as he could slouched onto one of the chairs. The sheriff was on the phone and gave him a suspicious glance but nothing more for the moment. Stiles tugged, aimlessly, on his hoodie strings before pulling out his phone and tried to distract himself from this impending doom with another screw up. Pulling up the text thread between himself and Derek he had typed up and deleted five messages before his dad hung up the phone. 

“Do I want to know?” 

“Uh...I mean, no one wants to know things like this…” 

A sigh greeted that. “Do I need to know?” 

“...Mr. Argent is here…” 

“And Shawna was not the one to tell me that because?” 

“She’s doing battle like a boss and sent me to get Tara, who just went out, but she told me to come tell you, so here I am.” 

Noah rubbed his forehead tiredly. “Ok, well, to be honest, I was expecting this visit, just maybe not as fast. Dammit, I should have warned both of them it was coming. You, stay here.” 

Stiles wrote up and deleted six more messages to Derek before he glanced out and saw his dad and Tara headed back to the offices with a very pissed off looking Chris Argent behind them. Shit. As they got up to his dad’s office and came in, Argent fixed his glare on Stiles. Stiles met it with a glare of his own. Yeah no, he would apologize and cringe to his dad, Tara, Shawna and later Allison but not to this man. 

Walking by, his dad grabbed his hoodie. “Up. Stand.” He punctuated these words with manhandling Stiles over to beside his desk, then turned and leaned back against it himself. Tara gently closed the door behind her, leaving the four of them shut in the room. 

It was, predictably, Argent who broke the silence. “I’m still waiting for an explanation, Sheriff, why your 17 year old son thought it was a good idea to traumatize my daughter with his wild and baseless accusations against my family. To say nothing about revealing the existence of werewolves to her, which was not his right to do so.” Stiles couldn’t help the scoff that escaped him at that part, which earned him a light cuff on the back of his head. Argent turned back his furious gaze to the teen. “Something to add? Maybe more revelations or secrets you shouldn’t even know about let alone tell someone?” 

“Naw, dude, I’m just an observer right now. I just thought it was funny you know, you telling me I had no right to reveal secrets when your daughter has done nothing but flirt with a werewolf since she started school here.” Argent made a couple of furious steps forward, only to be stopped by the Sheriff’s hand going on. 

“All right, that’s enough. Stiles, you are to remain silent for the remainder of this time. I do actually agree with you to a point, Mr. Argent, Stiles had no business revealing any of what he did to your daughter and we have already had a long talk in that regard. I’m still working out a lot of the suitable punishment, but it will happen. I apologize on my son’s behalf and if it would help matters we can arrange a time for Stiles to apologize to Allison as well. I would also be happy to help explain anything more in further detail to her.” 

“Like I would ever let a man like you near my daughter.” Argent spit this out, disgust in his voice. 

Noah raised an eyebrow but his facial expression didn’t change. “Of course, that is your right as her legal guardian. Now, I believe you had mentioned wanting to make a formal complaint about my bias and discretion, if you would like to make it to Deputy Graeme, you can either do so in this office or follow her to her office.” 

Argent startled and looked like he hadn’t realized that Tara was still in the room. He gave her an incredulous look. “Are you telling me that you also know of the existence of werewolves?” At her amused nod, his face hardened again. “I see this corruption goes further than I thought, no, I will not give my complaint to the Deputy here. Obviously, a man who would let one of these animals help raise his son, is in no position to effectively protect this county. Someday you will regret convincing your people that werewolves are harmless, Sheriff, I just hope the body count is one that you can live with.” 

Noah gave Argent a polite smile and said, “I would remind you, Mr. Argent, that the only violence we have had until these past weeks in relation to werewolves is when hunters burned down the Hale home.” 

“The Argent family had nothing to do with that, which you should remind your son of before he makes anymore claims that I could sue him for slander over.” 

Noah nodded, still smiling, “As you say. Now. If that is all, I will have to ask you to leave. I have a true murderer to hunt down and I’m assuming I will no longer have the assistant of your hunters in tracking the rogue alpha?” 

“So, you knew it was a werewolf this whole time.” Argent spat out, still glaring. 

“Of course, Talia Hale came to me immediately when she realized that a rogue was in her territory. Her pack has been coordinating with my department to help me track it. Oh, by the way, I think this is an excellent time to warn you that if you, or any of your men shoot or harm any of the Hales, I will arrest them.” 

“You are correct, Sheriff, it is time for me to be going. I’ll see myself out.” 

“Of course, Tara will accompany you to the front door.” 

With one last glower, Argent left with Tara following. Once they had gotten through the bullpen, Stiles gave his dad, a wide eyed look. 

“Holy shit, dad, that was freaking awesome.” 

His dad rubbed a hand over his face and gave his son a light scowl. Stiles was too pumped at his dad’s complete and total BAMFness to give the scowl any heed and gave a small victory dance in the office before he froze and whirled back around. 

“But shit, dad, what if he goes to the mayor?” 

His dad surprised him then, by smirking. “Oh, he will probably do that, I admit I kind of wish I could be there when he gets politely informed to not be a speciest bigot and get dismissed completely.” 

“Wait, what?” 

“Mayor Jeffries knows, Stiles, has probably longer than we have. There’s a reason he’s been in office for 20 years, having a mayor who knows about the supernatural in a county that has a lot of supernatural creatures in it is not only a given, but a must.” 

“Wait...what…?” 

His dad just continued to smirk at him. “I will say, it’s nice for once to be the person who shocks you with information. Yes, Stiles, the Hales might be the only wolf pack in the county but that doesn’t mean there aren’t others here, they tend to avoid Beacon Hills as Talia doesn’t like them here, but my predecessor made it very clear to her father before her that they would leave the other inhabitants alone if the Hales themselves didn’t want to be driven out.” 

Stiles just continued to gape at his dad, trying to process this. “Ohmygods, that’s so BAMF and awesome, you have to tell me absolutely everything about everything...what kind of creatures? Wait like the kind of creatures grandad talks about? Are their nymphs and water dryads? Other shifters, holy shit, do we have any bear shifters? Who are they, can I meet them, oh gods, I have to meet them!” 

His dad grabbed him by the shoulders during this babble and gently started to steer him back towards the record room. “I do believe you still have an hour left to work on digitizing before my shift ends and I bring you home.” 

“Wait, what about Roscoe?” 

“I’ve asked Derek and Peter to pick up your jeep from the library and bring it home with them.” 

“My baby!” 

“Record room, now. Stiles.” 

“With one last half hearted protest Stiles let himself be pushed into the room. It was sooo unfair of his dad to let all that info drop about other supernatural creatures and then deny him information. Wait, shit, his dad was good, this was all part of his punishment, wasn’t it? Denying Stiles information was the absolute worst possible thing you could do to him. With a low moan, he flopped on top of the copier. Dejectedly, he hoped that his dad would decide the punishment only needed to last this afternoon and give in tonight. Probably not though, his dad had a stubborn streak that was harder to get through than his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nest time...Stiles finally has to stop avoiding how to apologize to Derek...also, Scott's first full moon and a certain rogue alpha makes a reappearance. 
> 
> Note on full moons: I do actually have a timeline down for this story that has it starting roughly when events do in the show. I just moved everyone to junior year so they can be driving, and I'm follow what the real full moon calendar would have been for that time period, which has the first full moon for Scott actually a week after they did in canon.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter super did not want to get written. It's also pretty short and almost all talking...next chapter the plot should finally pick back up again so I'm anticipating it coming a bit smoother. 
> 
> Alternate Chapter Title: The Baby Wolves bond with the Baby Hunter and Chris Argent once again, fails to intimidate a Stilinski.

Stiles was positive that this was the most awkward car ride of his life. And yes, this was more awkward than the one where he was squished in the back seat and Scott and Derek were having their epic argument. Sooo much more awkward because this time it was him needing to be human up and actually talk about feelings. He shot Derek a sideways look, the wolf was just staring stoically in front of him. 

“Hey, uh, could you pull over for a minute?” 

Wordlessly, Derek pulled the car over and turned it off. Well this was...even more awkward. Gods...why was he such an idiot? And a selfish jerk? And an asshole? If he wasn’t any of those things he would never have gotten into this type of situation to begin with. 

“I’m sorry.” He blurted out into the silence and then did what he did best, babble. “I should have thought about it from your perspective, you know? This is all crazy shit and there’s your family and I shouldn’t really expect you to go against them and your mom and sister and who knows who else all think that I’m like evil and out to destroy everything or something so they’d probably be like shit hit the fan level of pissed if they found out about us and I --” 

“Stiles.” Derek reached over and placed his hand on Stiles’ mouth. “Breath, it’s ok. I didn’t explain myself well either. But thank you. This is just a shitty situation for everyone and I shouldn’t have started anything with you before thinking through all the implications first.” 

Not being able to help himself, Stiles licked the hand over his mouth. Derek rolled his eyes and removed it. “So uh, where do we go from here? ‘Cause, I really like being friends with you and gods, Derek, but I think you really saved my bacon over this nemeton and goddess stuff. If you hadn’t shown up and then came when I called, I’d still be sneaking around and probably about to pass out due to doing it all alone.” 

Derek gave him a soft smile. “I’d like to be friends. I think we should work on that first, don’t you think? And then maybe when this crazy part has settled we’ll try the kissing part again.” Derek’s smile turned into a smirk. “Because, Stiles, I do really like kissing you.” 

Stiles felt his face turn red, “Thanks, I really like kissing you too.” Embarrassed by the squeak in his voice, he sunk down into the seat slowly. Derek grinned at him again and started up the car to finish the drive to the highschool. 

Stiles slunk into first period and promptly hid himself in the back corner with a mound of all his books on the desk in front of him. Allison entered not long after and, to his complete and utter shock, marched straight over to sit in the desk next to him. She ignored his baffled look to carefully set out her notebook and assigned reading. 

The class still only had those with no social lives in it (which meant there were a total of five students present) so it was silent when Allison turned to him and said, “The weather is supposed to be warmer today, we can eat lunch outside on the bleachers so we have privacy there.” 

Stiles opened his mouth to protest (once he’d gotten over his shock) but her glare silenced him. He’d been planning to spend lunch googled Irene Oakes in an attempt to discover where she and her family had gone to. Scrunching up his shoulders he gave a mumbled affirmative to her. Scott and Cora came crashing in together just as the bell was ringing. They were both flushed and giggling and gave Stiles and Allison big grins as they plonked into their seats. Stiles had a brief moment to wish his life was as simple to adjusting to being a werewolf. 

By the time lunch rolled around he was one giant bundle of nerves. He had texted both Derek and Peter and they both had demanded he make sure Scott, Cora and Anthony were in hearing distance. Coordinating that with the moon happy wolves ended up being an obnoxious exercise in self restraint. Only Anthony seemed to grasp that this was serious and potentially dangerous. Cora and Scott were somehow still too moon drunk (and in Scott’s case, too Allison drunk) to think that Allison could pose any major threat. In the end he ordered both of them to run laps outside during lunch (he also told them to bring him back a rabbit which earned him growls and smacks) and only took Anthony with him to meet Allison.

“Hey.” He said, trying to act confident as he sat crossways on the bleacher next to her. Anthony gave a timid wave and sat one bleacher down. At her questioning look, he elaborated, “This is Anthony Hale, he’s Cora’s cousin.” 

“Oh, Hi. Um, I’m Allison.” 

“Hi.” Anthony squeaked on the end of the hi but at Stiles’ raised eyebrow the younger boy growled lightly. “Don’t be like that. You know a wolf’s puberty lasts longer than humans.” 

Stiles grinned at Allison’s quiet gasp and said, “I know. And yes, Allison, Anthony is a werewolf. So’s Cora and Scott, who are apparently still moon drunk today…” He trailed off rolling his eyes. 

“Moon...drunk?” 

Anthony perked up at the question and butted in. “Yeah, it usually only happens to new bitten wolves or younger wolves who just learned how to full shift. Cora’s a bit old for it to happen but she’s always been free with her instincts and emotions so having Scott join us for his first full moon last night, she let loose so to speak and is still uh, well…” 

“Riding high.” Stiles interjected with a grin. 

Anthony gave him an annoyed glower. “It’s not exactly like being high or drunk it’s --” 

“Not that you’d ever be able to know what either of those things felt like puppy.” 

“Will you stop interrupting? I’m trying to explain things to her so she doesn’t kill us all!” At the end of this outburst Anthony tried to give a Derek level frown which Stiles rates at about a 1.5 for effort. 

“Wait, what? Why would I…?” Allison said, sounding startled. Anthony reddened and looked away mumbling apologies. So she looked back at Stiles. “Dad told me that they don’t kill werewolves unless they go completely feral. He said...he said you lied to me to get to him…” She hunched over slightly and hugged herself. 

Stiles sighed and decided it was time to make this stop on the apology train. “I shouldn’t have gone after you like that. It really wasn’t fair of me. I’m sorry, really sorry. I’ve just been having a really crappy week and knowing your family was in town again just put me on edge. It doesn’t excuse it though, it’s not your fault and well, even Peter agrees that your dad, while hating werewolves, has always been honorable.” 

She looked up at him and he was shocked to see tears in her eyes. “I just don’t understand it. I mean, I’m still just trying to grasp the concept that werewolves even exist, but I don’t understand if...I mean, Cora, Scott and you, Anthony, you all just come to school. You’re normal and are fine, you aren’t animals...but my dad said that it’s all just hidden and they try to hide it and suppress it but eventually it all just breaks out if they indulge the wolf too much. I’m sorry, I know how that sounds, but I just want to understand.” 

Anthony and Stiles traded slightly helpless looks. After a furious eye battle, Stiles gave in and started talking again. “Well, ok, um, so I’m not a werewolf so I can’t really explain it as well as they could. But, that way makes it sound like the wolf and the person are two separate beings or identities. The way Peter explained it to me is that it’s much more that you are just one being with added nstincts. Basically, it’s like a wolf and a human merged, they retain their ability to reason and process just the same as us, but they aren’t human. They are werewolves, treating them as just needed to hold onto their human side makes them reject themselves and that’s when a werewolf truly goes feral. They have to accept their whole self and work to control all aspects of themselves.” 

He paused for a moment, remembering this brought back happy memories of curling up with Peter and Malia as Peter talked his daughter through her first shifts. When he felt like he could go on without crying he started again. 

“The key thing is to view them not as twisted or deformed humans but as a different species like in Star Trek or Star Wars. They have all the same abilities to reason and feel as we do. But because they have some naturally different instincts than humans and in the past humanity has not reacted well when they come against people different than they are. The werewolves hide themselves to protect themselves. They stay in packs not only because they need it biologically, but also because this way they can keep anyone who is struggling from hurting humans.” 

He stopped again, not sure if he should keep talking or not. Both Allison and Anthony were looking at him with rapt attention. Anthony finally grinned and said, “Wow, that’s almost exactly how Uncle Peter says it. How did you know all that?” 

Stiles shot him a slightly confused look and cautiously answered. “He lived with us since Malia was an infant, you know her first shift was biting four year old me because I tried to take her toy away, right? So yeah, I was there, you know, for Peter talking her through everything and how to shift and he always explained everything to me too…” He stopped and had to wipe a couple tears away. Anthony whined and leaned into his leg. 

“I’m sorry.” Allison’s voice made them both start and she winced. “I mean, I’m sorry for you losing her, I know that’s not helpful and doesn’t make up for anything...but I am sorry. And I really appreciate you talking to me. What you said makes a lot more sense than what my dad said.” 

“You’re welcome...I am sorry for blasting you like that though.” 

“I know and it sucked. Though part of me is kind of glad though I really wish you could have done it better. But I am glad I know now, just really pissed at my parents for lying to me my whole life.” 

Stiles grimaced. “That’s fair...though I’m a little glad to be honest, this way you were indoctrinated from birth against werewolves like how I think your dad was. Peter says your grandfather has a certain reputation for shooting first and asking questions later.” 

Allison winced slightly and then looked away. Oh shit, he had done it again. He flopped his head in his hands. He seemed to be completely unable to actually not say the wrong thing lately. Stupid mouth constantly getting him in trouble. Before he could apologize (again) Cora and Scott showed up. Allison seemed to perk up instantly and soon she and Scott were awkwardly flirting and Cora seemed to be weirdly ok with and somehow also half flirting with Allison. Stiles ended up having to herd all them inside so they didn’t miss any classes. 

After school ended for the day and Stiles was sitting by the front entrance waiting for Derek when Chris Argent suddenly was looming in his vision. Biting back another groan he looked up to see, what Argent probably thought was, an intimidating look being beamed down at him. Deciding to keep it on uneven ground, Stiles stayed sitting while Argent glowered at him. Anyone else would have most likely been intimidated but Stiles had grown up with Peter, who had intimidation down to an art form. 

“Have you ever kept a garden, Stiles?” 

Refusing to crane his neck, Stiles gave his answer to Argent’s legs. “Yup. Constantly, actually, we even have a small greenhouse in a window well my dad and built out from a south west window in the house. I can’t grow much in it, because you know, window well, but I can keep most of the kitchen herbs going year round with a few other fun things thrown in. I do have a pretty big veggie garden during summer too, oh and a lemon tree! I love my lemon tree, I freeze so many lemon ice cubes that dad sometimes says it’s like the ice cubes are multiplying like tribbles.” 

When Argent didn’t immediately respond, Stiles glanced up at the man again. His intimidation look was thrown off slightly and now he had a faint look of confusion on his face. Score one for Stiles. The hunter seemed to finally gather himself though and spoke again. 

“I assume then, you are the one responsible for all the weeding?” He looked like he was going to keep talking but Stiles interjected before he had the chance to add anything more. 

“Oh yeah, and man, let me tell you, when I was a kid I hated weeding soooo much. My mom would haul both me and my sister out there though, rain or shine in the summer. She’d always say, ‘kids, it’s weeding time.’ and I’d moan and groan but my sister, she would fly out the door as fast as she could! Really, though, she just liked hunting bugs and seeing how many she could eat before mom caught her doing it. It was hard to keep going for a bit there, I almost let the garden die after the fire…” 

“I…” The hunter now seemed completely thrown off his game. Score two for Stiles. He was about to keep going to really try and twist the guilt button but another voice slid into the conversation. 

“Christopher, how fortuitous to run into you here. I was just saying to Talia that we should have another meeting in order to compare notes on where we were all at with the hunt.” Peter had come and stood next to Argent while he was speaking. The werewolf was now giving the other man a charming smile. 

“Hale.” Argent gritted out the word between clenched teeth. “What are you doing here?” 

Peter raised an eyebrow and said in a rather condescending tone. “I would have thought that was obvious. I’m picking up my son of course.” 

“Last I checked, Hale, you didn’t have any children.” 

Stiles leapt up before the hunter had finished the sentence and managed to flail stumble into Peter’s space so the wolf had to put out an arm to catch him before he toppled over. “He means me, I didn’t think you were this slow on the uptake there, Mr. Argent, but I guess it is the women in your family that are the smart ones, right?” 

The hunter’s face went blank for a moment as he took in the possessive arm Peter still had wrapped around Stiles. Stiles could feel the tension radiating off Peter as well and desperately cast around for something that would get all of them out of there as fast as possible when Allison (finally) showed up. 

“Dad?” Her voice sounded a bit uncertain as she took in the tense look and glares the hunter and werewolf were giving each other. 

Latching onto the distraction with everything he had, Stiles spun around which forced Peter to turn or let go (Peter chose to turn). “Hey Allison! So this is my dad, Peter. Dad, this is my friend, Allison.” 

He felt Peter relax a notch and the man switched over to charming in a second. He gave Allison his best smile. “It’s a delight to meet you Allison, my niece has been chattering about you a great deal lately and I know it can be difficult for Cora to make friends, so you must be someone truly exceptional.” 

Allison blushed and said, “Cora is wonderful, I don’t know how anyone could think she wasn’t. She’s been so nice to me this week, helping me settle in and find everything.” 

Peter smiled even wider. “I’m glad to hear that. Now, if you could excuse us, we really must be going. I have a few errands to run before getting home to start dinner.” Peter then guided Stiles over to his car and practically shoved Stiles into the passenger seat. Stiles waited until they had pulled away from the school before speaking up. 

“Soooo….Derek know you picked me up?

Peter gave him a smirk. “Disappointed you didn’t have the time to try and woo Derek some more?” 

“Actually, Derek and I talked this morning and we are going to be just friends for now.” 

“Hmmm.” 

“We are!” 

“Well, Noah will at least be relieved about that.” 

Stiles sank back into the seat feeling a bit off kilter. All his other interactions with Peter had either been with other people there or when they were discussing the current situation. He really didn’t know anymore how to just spend time with the man. A few minutes later though he sat up and shot Peter a questioning look. The man answered easily. 

“Oh, yes, we aren’t going home right away and those errands I mentioned might take a little time.” 

“What errands? And why do I need to come?” 

“And here I thought you’d be grateful that Noah and I decided you should come with me. But I guess it can be so hard to guess at what teenagers actually want these days.” Peter said, while shaking his head as if disheartened. Stiles just narrowed his eyes. 

“What errands, Peter?” 

Peter cracked a grin as he gave up the charade. “Why, Stiles, we have found where Irene Oakes is and we are on our way to see her right now.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the PeterDad! feels in this one. Also, I'm kind of mean to Peter in this 'verse I just realized.

Peter felt himself start to relax as they left Beacon County and headed north towards Oregon. Stiles had kept up a fairly constant commentary on both the road trip and his general thoughts and feelings towards Allison, Scott, Cora, Derek, Noah and random others. Peter just soaked it all in. It had been far too long since he’d been able to spend time with Stiles and just catch up on the teen’s life. Stiles also seemed to relax as the drive lengthened. 

A couple hours into it, Stiles finally gave Peter a suspicious look. “Sooo...just how far away is Irene?” 

“Not too far.” Peter answered, hiding his smirk by looking out the window. 

“How far is not too far?” 

“Just far enough.” 

“Like far enough we will spend the night far?” 

“It depends.” Peter was really beginning to enjoy himself now. 

“Depends on what?!” 

“Many things.” 

With a huff, Stiles folded his arms and slouched back into the seat. “You’re the worst.” 

“What? Has something in my responses been lacking?” 

“Dad…” Stiles whined then froze. So did Peter. It was the first time Stiles had called him dad directly to his face since he’d started reintegrating back into the Stilinski’s lives. He looked over at Stiles, feeling something suspiciously like tears start to form. Stiles was looking back at him with an open but cautious look on his face. “Is...that ok? I mean...you know I switched when you left, I started calling…” He broke off and rubbed his own eyes furiously. 

“Yes.” Peter was not embarrassed that his voice broke over the word. “I mean, I know that you switched from pops to dad for Noah...I...it’s more than ok, Mischief, I just know, I don’t deserve it. I failed you so much.” 

“Yeah you did. But, I think I’m starting to realize that maybe I shouldn’t hold failures against people so hard. I seem to be failing pretty hard lately and I’m only a teenager, gods, if I was an adult.” He shuddered slightly and Peter laughed at the way Stiles’ logic was working its way around this. He reached out one hand and rubbed gently on Stiles’ neck and shoulder. 

“We just keep working through it. I hope you never have to learn the lessons I had to learn the hard way. And just because everyone fails doesn’t mean any of us get a pass when we do. It just helps to create understanding which can hopefully lead to forgiveness.” 

Stiles flashed him a slightly shaky smile. “Yeah...I...I’ll keep working on it too then.” 

Peter then decided to relent and explain what was going on to the teen. “We are driving up to a small town a few hours west of Portland. It’s pretty isolated. It’s pure luck that we even found out that she’s there. She had just applied for a grant from the local state for setting up a bumblebee preservation space. I had put our careful feelers to some of my contacts and one of them works for the natural preservation society at the Oregon capitol. The name had just come through so they remembered it.” 

“Wow, that’s so awesome. Someday I need contacts like yours.” 

Peter grinned at him. “Someday you will have contacts like mine, of that I’m sure of. So we will stay the night tonight in Portland and head out to the town tomorrow morning. Depending on how it goes will decide if we come back tomorrow or on Sunday. And yes, I packed a bag for you.” 

The rest of the drive passed in fairly easy conversation and a few long silences. Peter had brought the book he had found and the journal from Stiles’ cousin so the teen kept himself occupied with continuing to work his way through them and make notes. It was almost eleven pm by the time they rolled into the hotel. Stiles pretty much collapsed into sleep as soon as they got in.

It took Peter a little longer to drift off. His thoughts kept going over the events of the last few weeks. The rogue alpha was really starting to bother him. Not just for the problem of it, but how and why it was even there. Rogue _and _feral alphas were so rare these days. Usually there would be another pack or hunters would step in and take care of it before any mundanes could notice. That it had somehow traveled up to Beacon Hills without leaving a trail of attacks or bitten humans felt impossible. He was missing something, he knew he was missing something.__

__It helped that he had Noah back more fully into his life. While they had been gradually working on repairing their relationship over the past year, this situation had finally catapulted it forward. Both Noah and Stiles were offering him so much forgiveness that he didn’t deserve. It helped too that right now, Talia was so distracted by making nice with the Argents and her little battle with Melissa McCall that she hadn’t noticed Peter or Derek spending so much time away from the house._ _

__Peter smirked, he knew the teens were unaware of the passive aggressive battle waging between Melissa and Talia but it was a joy to be on the sidelines of. Watching every move of Talia get foiled by a human was hilarious. Watching Talia dance in attendance to the Argent’s whims was not hilarious. He clenched his fists when his thoughts went to the conversation with Chris Argent earlier. The hunter was lucky that Stiles had been there. Peter really wasn’t sure what he might have done if he’d been alone._ _

__This of course, brought his thoughts back to the fire. He still remembered the details of that day with crystal like clarity. He hadn’t even wanted them to be there but Talia had been getting more and more insistent that they join family pack events ever since Claudia had died. She kept harping on that Malia needed a female influence in her life and how it couldn’t be good for such a young child to only be around men, especially men that were all grieving._ _

__Peter had been so tired back then, balancing both Malia and Stiles while keeping Noah sober had been wearing on him. It had been just getting easier to give into Talia’s demands rather than fight her. It had always been Claudia who had helped him stand up for himself. Noah had tried to help but he hadn’t known how to help in the way Peter needed. They had been struggling to figure out their relationship without the whole part that had brought them together. They knew that they loved each other fiercely but negotiating all the details while dealing with two grief stricken kids had been exhausting._ _

__It had been another pack meeting with a bonding time after it. Talia had insisted he bring Malia and so he had. Something must have happened because she wasn’t with the other kids when the fire started and no one except him had realized that immediately. Everyone had been frantic and panicking when they realized they were trapped inside. When he had found her…_ _

__Stiles ragged breathing wrenched him out of these thoughts. Focusing his attention on his son, he heard the heartbeat speed up and then Stiles cried out in his sleep. Getting up to sit on the edge of the other bed, Peter placed a hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “Stiles.” He murmured, shaking the teen gently. Stiles’ eyes flew open and they blazed dark gold. Peter felt a flash of something run through him and everything went dark for a moment._ _

__When his sight returned he was standing in the Nemeton clearing. Everything was dead around him. Looking up and around there were crows and ravens blanketing the dead trees. He growled and unsheathed his claws but stopped when he saw the huddled form of Stiles on top of the dead stump. He stumbled forward and shakily reached out a hand. The heartbeat was so faint he could barely hear it. Turning Stiles over, he flinched back as red, listless eyes stared back into his. The teen gave a sharp cry, convulsed once and stopped breathing. Peter felt dizzy like the whole world had stopped moving but he was still in motion. He cried out as he pulled the lifeless body into his arms. Shaking and sobbing he clung to his son._ _

__“Peter. Peter!”_ _

__With a gasp he jolted upright. He had a moment to stare into the wide and worried eyes of Stiles before he fell forward and practically crushed the boy to his body, clinging to it and sobbing. Stiles was hugging him back as best he could and Peter just sank into the steady heartbeat that meant Stiles was alive and well. He finally managed to get himself back under control and pulled back a little but didn’t let go of Stiles completely._ _

__“What did you see?” Stiles' voice sounded so small and scared. It was so unlike his normal self that it made Peter want to rip whatever made his son feel that way apart._ _

__“I saw the Nemeton. It was dead...everything was dead.”_ _

__“Oh…” Stiles leaned forward and put his head on Peter’s shoulder. “I’ve had that one too. Was...was someone dead on it?”_ _

__Peter’s grip tightened involuntarily. “Yes.” He breathed out._ _

__“I usually see myself...I think that...that it’ll drain me before it dies. The Nemeton will, I mean.”_ _

__“No.” Peter practically snarled the words. “No. I won’t let it ever do that.”_ _

__Stiles laughed weakly into his shoulder. “I really hope you can stop it. But...I think it’s stronger than all of us even half dead already.”_ _

__Peter pushed back Stiles’ shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. “Stiles. We will figure this out. Ok? I promise. You are not going to die.”_ _

__Stiles nodded quickly. “Ok, ok...yeah…”_ _

__The two of them continued to cling together until they both fell asleep. The next morning was spent mostly in silence. They both woke up early and just packed up and left, stopping at a coffee shop for coffee and pastries. There was a nervous energy that hadn’t been there before and the closer they got to the tiny town where they would hopefully find answers, the more the tension went up._ _

__The town itself only had the one mainstreet with a gas station that combined with a general store. A bar on the opposite side of the road with a post office next to that. A few houses were on the road and one diner. They went into the diner and sat down at the counter. Stiles brought his notepad in and scribbled ideas down. Peter smiled at the server behind the counter and ordered food for both of them._ _

__They sat and started to eat in silence until the bell jingled when someone walked in. All the hairs on Peter’s neck stood up and he turned slightly to see a grey haired woman come up to him. She looked old but still strong. Her sharp eyes seemed to take in everything at once and they lingered slightly on Stiles’ hunched form. He let out a low rumble which brought her attention back to him. Her eyes flashed red and then dimmed back to light grey._ _

__“Alpha Irene Oakes, I presume?” He said, giving her his best smile. Next to him, Stiles stopped and jolted upright to stare at her. Internally, he sighed. Still no subtly._ _

__Her lips twitched slightly. “Beta Hale.”_ _

__“Peter please.” He murmured and tilted his head slightly in submission._ _

__“And uh, hi, I’m Stiles.” The boy was almost vibrating next to him now. The alpha’s eyes began to sparkle slightly._ _

__“Stiles...intriguing name.”_ _

__Peter felt more than saw Stiles roll his eyes. “Yeah, well, real one is Polish and my grandfather’s name and he’s kind of a conceited douche on his best days so I prefer Stiles. Stilinski. We’re from Beacon Hills, which you must have known because you called Peter a Hale. Which, shit, did you smell that? Do all the Hales have a similar scent? That’d be so cool if they did!”_ _

__The alpha’s eyes found Peter again and a smile curved on her lips. “I recognized him as a Hale because he looks much like his grandfather and has his mother’s eyes. Though yes, most packs share a similar scent but that has more to do with proximity than anything natural.”_ _

__She paused and gestured towards a booth near the back. “I believe we should sit somewhere more conducive for longer talks.”_ _

__When they were all settled again and Peter had procured more coffee for Stiles to hopefully help him focus more. Irene spoke again._ _

__“We seldom get visitors here much less other werewolves so my curiosity was piqued when Addie messaged saying an unknown wolf was here. Seeing that the unknown wolf is a Hale was even more surprising. I believed that no one from your pack knew where we had gone. May I ask how you found us?”_ _

__Though her tone was cordial, Peter could hear the steel underneath it. Refusing to back down, he met her gaze steadily and nudged Stiles under the table. He had a feeling that the more Stiles talked, the better this would go._ _

__Stiles took the hint immediately. “Uh, well, bees were how we got the location but before that I had to spend like five hours in the library going through hundreds of old newspapers, and wow, no one had dusted back there in like _years_. I tried the school library before that but the stupid Hales had actually sensored the town history books! Like, I knew Peter’s dad was an even bigger douche than my grandfather but seriously, like ugg. My dad just can’t catch a break with fathers in law apparently. Mom’s dad hates him and Peter’s dad hated him...my Aunt is ok with him though unlike Talia who hates him though I think she might hate me more.” _ _

__Irene leaned forward slightly which surprisingly cut off Stiles’ rant. “Bees?” She asked with a raised eyebrow._ _

__Peter jumped in then, “Your request for the grant money for the land to turn into a bee preservation. A...friend of a friend works in that department. I apologize for the intrusion but unfortunately we seem to be on a bit of a time crunch.” He rested a hand on the back of Stiles’ neck. “My son has been receiving dreams and premonitions from a goddess who desires him to cleanse and restore the Nemeton in Beacon Hills. In one of the dreams he saw you arguing with my father. It was only a first name but between that and the knowledge that your family started the town with the Hales was enough for him to track down a last name.”_ _

__He had startled her. She leaned back and looked at Stiles again. He squirmed and ducked his head, leaning into Peter’s touch. Her face softened and she turned back to Peter._ _

__“That is...not at all what I was expecting.” She took a deep breath and stood up. “Come, I need to show you some things and I believe this will take much longer than I anticipated initially.”_ _

__Trading glances, the two of them stood up and followed her out of the door of the diner. She set out briskly with Stiles stumbling slightly to keep up. She led them on a path through a light forest up to a medium sized house. Gesturing them inside and to a comfortable sitting room they moved to sit down but her hand on Stiles’ arm stopped the teen and Peter tensed._ _

__“Stiles, I want you to tell me what you feel right now.”_ _

__He blinked at her, startled but then closed his eyes and started taking deep, slow breaths. When he opened them, he gazed around the room in wonder. “Oh wow, um, warm, there is warmth everywhere. It’s almost like the room is giving you a hug. It really likes you, alpha, and it’s...looking us over, trying to decide if it likes us too.”_ _

__She nodded and smiled before leading them to sit down. “Very good, Stiles, I was curious if you would feel it or not. This room is lined with wood from our Nemeton that we planted when we left Beacon Hills and came here. I had taken a seed when I was just a teenager. It seemed ridiculous at the time but I had a deep urging to do so. The Hale house has a room like this as well. If your Nemeton had been taken care of as it should have been and tied to the alpha and emissary then they would be able to use the room as I do.”_ _

__“How? I mean, sorry, I mean how do you use the room? Is it like a warning system?” Stiles was leaning so far forward in his eagerness that Peter was concerned he’d fall off the couch. Rolling his eyes he gripped Stiles’ neck and pulled him back into the couch._ _

__Thankfully, Irene seemed to find his eagerness endearing. “Yes, of a sort. Though I would say it is more that when guests are here I have an even easier time discerning their intentions and if their words are true.”_ _

__Stiles was practically vibrating next to Peter and he could tell the boy was about to unleash a torrent of questions. Hoping to keep them focused on their goal he jumped in before Stiles could. “Can you tell us anything about Alan Deaton?” Her sharp gaze landed on him. He felt an urge to look away and submit but he stood his ground. They needed to know this. She nodded slowly and shifted back a little as she began to speak again._ _

__“Alan Deaton is a druid who strongly believes in the importance of balance. He came to Beacon Hills not long after your father became Alpha. I believe he was looking for a nemeton and an alpha he could manipulate.” The story was long and it was painful to hear how weak and eager his father had been. Deaton had convinced his father that the Nemeton would take power away from him. Irene was also convinced Deaton used its power to prolong his own life. She also theorized that his wards had not failed them at the time of the fire but instead he simply did not care. He was afraid of packs getting too big and too strong._ _

__After she had finished she asked to hear their story and why they had come. Peter let Stiles take over and talk about the night with the rogue alpha and the Morrighan moving onto the visits and dreams. When he had finished, he was tense and jittery._ _

__Another woman entered the room just as he had stopped talking. She was holding a tray with mugs on it. She set it down on the table and offered one to Stiles. “Drink, it’s a good tea for calming nerves.” Peter eyed it suspiciously and gave it a sniff before letting Stiles take it._ _

__“Forgive me,” Irene said, “this is my emissary, Bethany. She has been listening elsewhere. We tend to be cautious around unknown wolves and especially Hales.”_ _

__Peter eyed the newcomer speculatively then nodded. “I understand the caution. I apologize for the grief my family has caused yours.” Bethany snorted lightly and sat down close to Stiles. Peter gave her a warning look. She just smiled at him. He pulled back a growl before it could get out._ _

__“Bethany.” Irene’s voice was mild but there was a hint of warning in it. With a sigh, the emissary settled back into her chair._ _

__“All right, all right. Well, you two got yourselves into a pickle. Thankfully, for you, the solution should be simple.” She smirked at Peter. “Become an alpha, have Stiles bind you and him to the Nemeton as it’s alpha and emissary. Oh and you’ll need to kill Deaton so he doesn’t try to mess with it. After that it should gradually heal itself.”_ _

__Peter glared at her. “That. Is not as simple as you make it sound like. Alpha’s don’t just grow on trees and regardless of my feelings towards my sister I am not going to just kill her and --”_ _

__“But they do!” Stiles practically leapt off the couch in his eagerness to jump in. Peter turned a glare on his son. “Don’t be dense, the rogue alpha! You just need to kill it then we sneak up or poison Deaton and go bond with a Nemeton. Wait, how do we bond with a Nemeton?”_ _

__Bethany gave a large grin at Stiles. “It’s not complicated, it’s mostly about intent. Shed a little blood on it and promise to serve the land and people on it.”_ _

__Peter felt a headache forming. “Yes, we just sneak up and kill or poison Deaton.” He said flatly. “I’m sure you father, the sheriff, will have no objections to that at all.”_ _

__Stiles waved a hand in the air. “Details, details...we can ju--”_ _

__“Stiles.” He was definitely getting a headache. Was this bloodthirstiness his fault? “We can’t just --”_ _

__“Stiles will die if you don’t.” Silence fell over the room. Peter went rigid and did growl this time as he looked back at the emissary. Her face was sympathetic as she continued. “Deaton has bound himself to the Nemeton, however weakly, he is killing it and now that it has already latched onto Stiles when the Nemeton dies fully, Deaton will be able to pull out the power from Stiles as well.”_ _

__Peter stared at her coldly. “Well. I guess we are killing Deaton. But. Stiles, you will not go near the man, understood?”_ _

__Stiles shrank down a little next to him. “Yup. Yes. I understand.”_ _

__He asked a few more detailed questions that both the alpha and emissary answered. By then it was after noon so they invited the two of them to eat lunch. Lunch was a little more lively again as Stiles had recovered enough to ask his thousand questions and both Bethany and Irene were happy to indulge him. It made Peter relax some. It always made him feel better about someone where they weren’t judging his son for the boy’s tangents and need to know everything._ _

__By the time they got back on the road it was almost four pm but Peter was determined to get them home. He wanted both Noah and Stiles within easy distance of him right now and he needed to focus on finding the alpha soon. A suspicion he had was starting to form more fully now. If Deaton wanted balance and the Hale pack to not get too strong, what was the best way to do something about that? Hunters. And if a rogue alpha was in the Hale territory with too many hunters around, it would be far too easy for a hunter to take a shot at a Hale and claim they thought it was the alpha. This thought urged him home even faster. He would protect his back and family. Hopefully, soon he would have the added strength of an alpha to make it easier to do so._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time...Stiles tries really really hard to stay away from Deaton and Kate Argent arrives in town.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for Kate Argent. Also, mild torture and threats of worse torture.

Getting up for school on Monday was brutal. His dads had been so distracted the night before trying to figure out where Deaton could be hiding a rogue alpha that they hadn’t made Stiles go to bed until after midnight. Stiles had also been trying to figure out where a rogue werewolf could be imprisoned though he thought the Argent’s might be responsible for it too. His theory was that the Argent’s and Deaton must be in cahoots with each other. Nobody else thought this was as brilliant of an idea as he did though. Even Derek, who had been over almost the whole day Sunday had said it was very unlikely. Stiles had sulked for the rest of the night and focused in on his growing spells for plants, just in case the Nemeton needed a boost after alpha bonding. 

He pretty much zombie walked his way through classes until lunch time. Cora, Scott and Allison were being sickeningly cute together. If his brain power wasn’t completely caught up in more important things he’d have devoted significant energy to figuring out what on earth was going on between the three of them. They seemed to be caught up in some sort of weird three way flirtation if the infatuated moon eyes going back and forth were any indication. 

He was finally able to get a word in about halfway through. “So….Allison… Any barns or warehouses your family rented out around here?” 

All three teens stared at him with confused expressions on their faces. “Uh, no.” Allison was looking at him like he was nuts. Scott and Cora were both glaring at him. Well. Fine. He glared back but let it go for now. He managed to pay a bit better attention during the afternoon. He was really trying to be better so he didn’t cause either of his dads more stress than they needed. Derek was waiting for him when he got out of school and he didn’t complain when they went straight to the house and stayed there for the rest of the day and evening. 

His dad came home late and distracted. Peter came in even later and the two of them pretty much went straight to bed. They both insisted he go to bed as well to his great annoyance. His dreams were bad again overnight and he woke up feeling cranky and irritable. School that day was a rinse and repeat of the day before except for the pining threesome being even worse. After school he managed to track down Anthony as soon as the bell rang. The younger teen was hunched up and scowling at something on his phone. 

“Hey, what’s up?” Stiles said, flopping down on the back steps near the sports field. 

“Oh hey, Stiles.” 

“Sooo...what are your opinions on this weirdish three way crush that’s going on?” 

Anthony made a groan and put his hands over his face. “It’s the absolute worst. Cora just won’t shut up about Allison this, Scott that...we almost had to smother her last night so Laura wouldn’t pry. I just know she’s going to slip up and say Allison’s last name soon and then holy hell fire will rain down on us all...uggg…” 

“Well...glad isn’t the right word but interesting to know it continues on at your home too. I swear I can’t have one conversation with Scott where he isn’t writing sonnets to Allison’s hair or Cora’s sweet lips. They haven’t even kissed.” 

The two of them sat there in dejected silence until Anthony’s phone buzzed. He grimaced. “Laura’s here to pick us up. Scott’s coming over today too for training so he and Cora are going to be unbearable. Worst part is that Laura actually thinks they are a good idea as a couple...Something about it’s better for everyone to stay Hales in the pack.” He rolled his eyes and stood up. 

Stiles offered a fist bump in farewell. “Good luck dude. May the force be with you.” 

“Live long and prosper.” Anthony replied and trudged off. 

Stiles moseyed his way back to the front of the school. Derek was running late, something about a flat tire so he figured he had a bit more time. He was just rounding the corner to get to the library when he froze. Talking to the school guidance counselor was Alan Deaton. The man’s back was to him currently so Stiles hastily backed up and started walking quickly back the way he came. He also called Peter.

He was talking as soon as Peter answered the phone. “Oh thank gods, Deaton’s here, like right here, in the school, talking to Miss Morell. Holy shit, I promise I didn’t go looking for him or ask for him or anything. He just --” 

“Stiles.” Peter cut in firmly. “Did he see you?” 

“Uh, no? I mean, I don’t think so?” 

“That’s good. Also, remember that even if he did see it doesn’t mean anything bad is about to happen. He doesn’t know what we know about him or the Nemeton. He has no reason to suspect us of anything. All right?” 

“Right. Right...you’re right. Sorry, I just panicked a little.” 

“It’s ok. It happens. Now, where’s Derek?” 

“He said he had a flat tire. So I went to find Anthony to talk about the vomit inducing threesome and he says that Cora and Scott are just as bad when they are at his place and they are all Cora talks about and Scott is --” 

“Stiles, is this at all relevant to seeing Deaton?” Peter’s voice had relaxed somewhat and he sounded a bit amused now. 

“Nope. But I thought you should know about it. Since, Allison still thinks her family aren’t total nutjobs.” 

“What do Cora and Scott making calf eyes at each other have to do with Allison?” 

“Uh. Erg…” 

“Stiles….” 

“They are all flirting with each other at school?” 

He could practically hear Peter’s eyeroll. “Are you sure about that or is it in question?” 

“Sure about it. Scott won’t shut up about both of them and Anthoy says that whenever it’s just the kids Cora is all over the moon about Allison as well.” 

“Hmmm...interesting. I guess I’ll have to keep a closer eye on those two.” 

“I just don’t feel like any of them get how dangerous this all is and it’s starting to really annoy the shit out of -- oh shit!” 

He dropped his phone and had to do a mad scramble to catch it before it hit the ground as he had just rounded a corner and practically ran into Miss Morell and Dr. Deaton. They were both now staring at him with raised eyebrows. 

“Language, Stiles.” Miss Morell reprimanded mildly. 

“Ah, er, yes, sorry. Um, yeah, my ride is here so…” 

“Actually Stiles if you had a minute I would like to speak with you.” Dr. Deaton said, smiling his toothless smile that never failed to make Stiles’ metaphorical hackles rise. 

Stiles started to propel himself backwards as swiftly as possible. “Some other time? Maybe? I’ll have to, you know, ask my dad, yeah definitely need my dad’s permission to meet with a dr -- vet. Yup, never can be too careful with meeting with a vet, you know. Yeah, ok, bye.” He backpedaled for a good several feet before spinning around and hurrying as fast as he could out to the front of the school. Thankfully Derek was there and he practically dived into the camaro and immediately hunkered down into it in the hopes that Derek would just drive. 

Derek did start driving through he gave Stiles one of his, ‘you are super weird’ looks. He then remembered Peter was still on the phone and he brought it back up only to hear Peter chortling and laughing at Stiles’ awkward pain, he hung up immediately and sulked the rest of the ride home. That night was much the same as the night before except for when Peter got home a little earlier so he could mock Stiles and his ‘drvet’ moment. 

The rest of the week passed fairly quickly all things considered. His dads got no closer to locating the alpha but Noah was getting super close to getting all the evidence in place to arrest Kate. He was actually working with the FBI now and they were compiling a case against both her and Gerard Argent based on a pattern of arson all around the country. Stiles wasn’t technically supposed to know any of this but how was it his fault that his dad never changed the locks on the study even after he knew Stiles had made a copy? 

Stiles saw Deaton twice more that week but was able to get away before the Druid noticed him both times. Scott, Cora and Allison continued to be completely gushy and totally unhelpful. Both Cora and Scott had become firmly on the side of Allison and had decided that Stiles was being too hard on her family. This was super annoying because it meant he couldn’t even try to get Allison to tell him anything about her family. She just gave him sad looks every time he tried to ask a question about them. 

Friday finally came around and Stile felt extremely on edge. He had felt like his skin was itching all day and really wanted to not be in school. The morning hadn’t started out very well either. Derek couldn’t drive him anywhere today because Talia had decided it was time for Derek to do his duty on patrols and playing nice with the Argents so had taken him off of Scott duty. Both his dad and Peter left super early in the morning. His dad was going into Redding to meet the FBI, because the agent assigned to the case didn’t want to tip off Kate with them being so close to arresting her. Peter had a theory about how to find the alpha and had taken off into the forest in wolf form. 

Stiles felt a little weird driving the jeep into school for the first time in almost three weeks. He kept jumping at every shadow and was almost convinced Deaton was going to appear around the corner at any moment. Both of his dads were convinced he was being paranoid as they were confident the druid had no idea. 

He had been hoping to talk Scott into coming over after school to hang out but there was a pack night at the Hale house and Talia wanted everyone there right after school. So once again he was abandoned. Morosely, he was walking to his car when Allison suddenly appeared in his field of vision. 

“Stiles! I’ve been looking for you.” She said, all dimples. 

“You...have? Did I say something hurtful and mean again?” 

She stopped and gave him a confused look. “Nooo. I just wanted to talk to you about my family some more.” 

“Oh, ok. Uh, library? I mean we could meet at --” 

“Actually, I was hoping we could talk outside again? There's that picnic table near the back parking lot.” 

Stiles paused a moment and looked at her. Something felt off about this. She was so eager to talk to him and about her family? Why would she want to talk about that. Also, it was cold outside. He opened his mouth to object to the location but she had already taken his silence as affirmation and was heading towards the side door. Grumbling to himself, he pulled out his phone to text Derek where he would be and with whom. After a brief moment of hesitation he texted Peter as well. Maybe he was being overly paranoid but after hearing about Deaton draining his power, he didn’t want to take any chances. 

He was still looking at his phone when he rounded the corner to the picnic table that some of the staff and teachers used to smoke when a low chuckle that was not Allison broke him out of his thoughts. He whipped his head up to stare straight into the eyes of Kate Argent. The air seemed to leave his lungs and his vision tunneled in front of him. 

“Oh Allison, you didn’t mention that Stiles here was such a cutie.” The woman was smirking at him, her eyes freely roving over his body in a way that made his skin scrawl. 

“She also didn’t mention you would be here.” He gave Allison a cold look. She jutted out her chin and crossed her arms. 

“Would you have come if I had told you?” 

“No! Of course not. I know I have some bad ideas but I would never have come her with this mur --” 

“See! That’s why you need to be here and listen to her. She didn’t set fire to the Hale house and she can prove it. Just listen to her Stiles, please?” 

He had been looking at Allison so had missed Kate coming in closer to him. He turned and yelped as she was a mere foot away. He went to back up only for her to reach out and pluck his phone out of his hands. She was still giving him a look like she wanted to eat him. He glared at her hand which was holding his phone. Indecision made him stop moving. No way in hell did he want to leave his phone with the huntress but all his instincts were demanding he run away to find space with more people. 

“Fuck. No. I’m out of here.” Decision made, he spun around to leave, only for Allison to block his escape. Fear flooded through him. 

“Hey, no, you made me sit there and listen while you spewed out all those horrible things. The very least you can do is listen to my Aunt tell you why she didn’t kill your family.” 

He was opening his mouth to respond when a hand landed on his shoulder and pulled him back a little by his jacket collar. 

“Yes, _Stiles _, all I want to do is talk. There’s no danger here. I promise.”__

__He tried to twist out of Kate’s grip but she refused to let go. “Yeah, hell, no you psycho, I know all about how you’ve talked your way out of investigations and arrests before. How many times has daddy had to bail you out now? Is he proud that his baby girl is continuing on the family legacy or pissed that you keep fucking up and he has to bail your stupid ass out of jail.”_ _

__A sigh sounded behind him and the hand on his jacket wrenched backwards. He stumbled and half fell into Kate. He felt a small burst of pain on his otherside and while cursing tried to twist again. She let go this time and he stumbled away, glaring at both her and Allison. Allison looked pissed at him. Kate shrugged._ _

__“Well, Ally, I guess you were wrong and he’s not reasonable as well. Why don’t you run along, your mom should be here by now and I’ll head out too.”_ _

__With one last glare, Allison stomped off. Leaving Stiles along with Kate. He opened his mouth to call out to her but his tongue felt heavy. He stumbled again, he felt woozy and lightheaded. Shit, shit, shit. He looked up at Kate in horror as she slowly advanced on him. She pulled out something from under her jacket and smiled at him._ _

__“You are the smart one, aren’t you? Well, Stiles, you should know better than to poke at the sleeping bear or its cubs.”_ _

__He opened his mouth to try and snarl a response when she brought the item down on his neck. He had a brief moment to register it was a taser before pain shot through him and everything went dark._ _

__Waking up felt like he was swimming through mud. Everything was fuzzy and he could only hear distant sounds. He registered that his neck felt like it was on fire and his arms were aching. He heard people talking and he strained to try and tell what they were saying._ _

__“He’s awake.” A voice growled somewhere to his left. Stiles flinched away from it. Something was familiar about that voice and he didn’t like it. He was trying to focus his eyes when a bucket of cold water was thrown over him. He cried out and tried to wrench away only to let out another cry of pain as the motion wrenched his shoulders painfully. Finally able to see more fully he registered that he was shirtless and though they had left his jeans on, the shoes and socks had been removed._ _

__The voice let out a low chuckle and said. “Little rabbit has a kick to it. Wonder how well it would run now.”_ _

__Shit. A large man came into frame, his eyes glowing bright red. Kate laughed as she joined the unknown alpha. Stiles really hated it when he was right. The alpha stepped forward. The man was huge, easily towering over Stiles and almost twice as wide. Stiles felt himself shaking with fear but desperately tried to hold himself together. He was tied up standing against what felt like some sort of metal grate or gate. His arms had pulled through holes in it and tied tight against the metal. He was tied at the knees and thighs as well._ _

__The alpha reached out a clawed hand and gently ran it down his check, Stiles could feel where it was pricking through his skin and a trickle of blood started to form. He clenched his teeth tight and refused to whimper. The alpha laughed._ _

__“Rabbit has some spine to it. This what you want Katie?”_ _

__“It’s perfect, baby. Do his other side as well, make it look like he’s crying blood. That should get his daddy's attention.”_ _

__The dark grin that the alpha gave him was terrifying and the claw went down his other cheek. It dug in deeper this time but he managed not to make a sound. Scowling now, the alpha backed up and he saw Kate take out a phone and take a picture. She sauntered up to him then, he was almost more scared of the predatory way she was looking at him than he was of the alpha. She reached him and dipped a finger in the blood. She brought it down and slowly let it slide down his chest ending just at his jeans. She patted his stomach and smirked at him._ _

__“Don’t run off now, sweetie, Ennis has a few bones to pick with you later for that nasty mistletoe surprise you gave him the other night. We’ll be back soon.” With one last wink, she sauntered off. Followed by the alpha, Ennis, who gave him another dark grin and growled as he left the room._ _

__Stiles wasn’t sure how long they left him there. He first tried to desperately pull out his magic, any of his magic but everything kept slipping through his fingers. It didn’t help that his arms and legs had gone numb by now and he couldn’t make himself wriggle enough to send any more feeling through them. He was crying for real with small shakes that he couldn’t seem to stop when he heard a door bang distantly and voices coming closer._ _

__Kate came in first, her face was dark and she was hanging up the phone. She glared at Stiles as if he was somehow personally responsible for all her troubles. The alpha was smirking behind her and grinned wide at Stiles’ shaking body. Kate just kept looking at her phone and texted something._ _

__“Cut him down.” She spit out at the alpha._ _

__He complied, gripping Stiles’ wrist in his hand and wrenching so the bindings broke. Stiles couldn’t stop himself from screaming as the process was done again until he dropped facedown, unable to stop his fall. He was pretty sure his nose was broken with the blood pooling on the ground. Ennis gripped him by the back of his neck, claws digging in as he was pulled up. He let out a gasp as pain started shooting down his legs and arms as blood started flowing to them again._ _

__His arms were tightly tied behind his back before he was tossed over Ennis’ shoulder. They went out through a door and Stiles could see they were in a large pole barn. Craning his neck around, he could see what looked like to be a hunter’s paradise with traps and guns stacked neatly in corners. Kate was muttering under her breath somewhere in front of him and Ennis was just standing there, seemingly bored (and having no issues holding Stiles up which shit, this guy was built)._ _

__“All right, she’s going to meet us there. Throw the kid in the back of the car but make sure he can’t make a sound. I don’t care how, just don’t kill him. Doc needs him alive.”_ _

__Stiles felt dread at her words and the dark chuckle Ennis made in response. Feeling frantic with the fear he wildly tried to kick and wriggle his way out of the hold the alpha had on him but it was completely useless. Ennis just growled then let him drop on on the dirt floor. Hard. He bit back a scream and kicked out uselessly as the alpha towered over him._ _

__“Well, aren’t you pathetic now, all tied up. Guess it really was just blind luck that made you strong enough to hold me back.”_ _

__The large alpha knelt down next to him and shoved him down on his back with a clawed hand. The claws were digging into his skin and looking down Stiles could see blood welling up. He looked away, feeling sick with terror. Ennis growled and slowly started to scrape his claws down Stiles’ front. It was like his chest was on fire and he couldn’t help but scream. It turned into a choked sob as the alpha’s other hand gripped down over his mouth tight._ _

__“Ennis!” Kate walked up, glaring at the alpha._ _

__“What?” Ennis said, standing up and glared at her. Stiles took a long shuddering breath._ _

__“I said shut him up, not to torture him. We are on a timeline, gag him and let’s go.”_ _

__Grumbling the alpha obeyed and soon Stiles was rolling around in the back of an SUV, bound and gagged. He could feel the stickiness of the blood all over him now and nausea was a constant companion. He wanted Peter, or his dad, or Derek or Scott or Cora...or freaking anyone who wasn’t a raging lunatic._ _

__The SUV finally stopped after going on what was presumably a bumpy road for what seemed like eternity. They got out and were talking to someone new. Stiles strained to hear what they were saying but it was too muffled. When the truck was opened he barely had time to even flinch backwards before Ennis was hauling him out and then dropping him on the ground. He glared up at the large man before a familiar voice cut through the air._ _

__“Not so high and mighty now, are you?”_ _

__He twisted around in shock. Standing right next to Kate Argent, was Laura Hale._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know. I'm a terrible person. 
> 
> Next time...Stiles officially fails at staying away from Deaton and Peter is very very angry.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter should possibly have a higher rating than the others. I don't think I get too graphic but there is a decent amount of blood and descriptions of pain.

Stiles let out what was supposed to be a whole bunch of swearing and curses towards Laura but only came out as garbled nothings. Laura just smirked at him before turning to Kate and planting a kiss on the hunter’s lips. Stiles was pretty sure all the shocking revelations of the day were going to kill him before Ennis could. Laura had walked over to him now and rolled him on his back with a foot. Dirt and leaves were now stuck to the blood and wounds and he let out a whimper as her boot ground it all further into his body. 

“Come on babe, we don’t want to be late for the party.” Kate had sauntered over and wrapped an arm around Laura’s middle. 

Laura sighed deeply, giving Stiles a light kick before pulling off. “You’re right, you’re right. I just wish we had more time to play with the brat. Teach him a lesson for almost ruining everything.” 

Kate leaned over and kissed Laura again. “I know, babe, I know. He’s not going to die easy though, Alan says it will be incredibly painful for him.” 

Laura grinned viscously. “Good.” Now she knelt down next to him and grabbed his chin in a clawed hand. “I’m going to leave you with this last thought before you die. Malia’s death was your fault. No, I’m not lying, don’t give me that look, brat. She left the rest of the kids the evening of the fire because she was trying to sneak out to see you. You’d promised, she told me, you’d promised to come find her.” Dread was filling Stiles and he stared at Laura in horror. 

She laughed cruelly, before continuing. “Yes, she saw us, me and Kate. She didn’t have to die that night. The only one we wanted to die was Aunt Rachel, well, and Peter but I didn’t think we’d actually be able to get him. Rachel was planning on challenging mom and if she had won then I’d never be alpha. Mom is losing control now, letting that mutt McCall into the pack without forcing him to mate Cora is absurd. Our pack is pure, only Hales.” She kicked him again, harder this time. 

Kate tugged her away while saying to Ennis. “Take him straight to Deaton. No detours. Got it? You’ll have plenty of things to play with later after Laura and I finish with the pack.” 

Ennis grunted in agreement and hauled him up and over a shoulder again. The cuts burned with every step and Stiles had to hold back constant whimpers as the alpha started off into the woods. Kate and Laura got into the SUV and drove away. Fear for the pack was the only thing that was keeping Stiles from passing out right now. Terror for what Kate and Laura had planned for Peter and Derek or Cora and Scott. 

Once his brain had exhausted all the horrible things that could be happening to his family and pack right now, it circled back to Malia. He had never hated anyone in his life like he hated Laura Hale right now. The desire to destroy her consumed him. How dare she put any of the blame of Malia on him? How dare she when she was the one who killed her cousin, her uncle and her aunt. All for what? Petty power games. He was going to absolutely destroy everything she loved and wanted. He was going to burn all her ambitions to the ground. 

These rage thoughts of revenge kept him occupied until he noticed a familiar clearing. Shit. He’d been distracted by his rage that he hadn’t kept trying to connect with the land. Belatedly he took several deep breaths, only to be interrupted when another familiar voice spoke up. At least this one wasn’t a shock. 

“Ah, Ennis, good. Place him on top of the stump please.” Deaton said, voice mild and pleasant as always. It made Stiles blood still go cold even when he’d know this was who was waiting for him. He squeezed his eyes shut to try and will back tears. He was going to die. Right here, on top of the fucking nemeton that he had been supposed to save, he was going to die. 

Cool hands cut the rope around his wrist and laid him out on his back. He opened his eyes to get up, only for Ennis’ clawed hand to push him back down. He couldn’t stop the whimpers of pain anymore, everything seemed to be hurting on his body. Ennis grinned, wide and wild, and took out the gag from his mouth. 

“I want to hear you, little bunny, scream for me.” The alpha’s eyes turned bright red and Stiles felt like his chest was burning. He couldn’t have stopped the hoarse scream even if he had wanted to. Ennis laughed and pushed harder, his other hand shredding through Stiles’ jeans on his thigh. 

“Enough.” Deaton’s calm voice broke through the overwhelming haze of pain he’d fallen into. Ennis growled but stood up and backed away. While Ennis had been torturing him, Deaton had stretched out his arms and legs across the nemeton. Now the druid was dipping his fingers in Stiles’ blood to write symbols of some sort all around the edge of the stump. 

“What are you doing?”

Deaton looked at him and smiled. “I’m placing binding runes with your blood to keep you from dying too quickly of blood loss.” 

“Gee, how nice of you.” 

“Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor, Mr. Stilinski.” 

“Pretty sure sacrifice is the lowest form of murder, asshole.” 

A low chuckle coming from Ennis shocked him. Twisting his head he was able to see the alpha, leaning against a tree. Ennis had his arms crossed and was watching Stiles with a hunger that made him shudder with fear. 

“Ah, yes...you do view yourself as the clever one. Don’t you, Stiles?” 

“Not think. Know. Asshat.” 

“I am sorry that I have to do this to you. I was very disappointed when I found out about your little trip to see Irene. You understand of course, why I can’t have someone as powerful as you live.” 

“Nope. Definitely do not understand that at all.” Stiles was getting desperate again. Deaton had stopped writing the runes and was pulling out a bunch of very long, thin spikes from a bag. He placed them carefully, one by one, on top of the nemeton. 

Trying once again to breath and connect, Stiles closed his eyes. A sharp caw made him open them again. Straight above him, flying lazily in circles, was a large black raven. Raven. He was so stupid. He stopped trying to push his senses out and instead focused inward. Where was that damn bird? Yes, there it was. Curled up, as if in a nest, just under his skin. _Wake up!_. He could feel it unfurl its wings and give him a disgruntled look. 

_No need to shout little spark._ It grumbled at him. 

_I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Can you please go get Peter? Can you bring him here? Please?_

_No need to beg me either, nestling, I did choose to be here._

With what almost felt like a brush of feathers against his face, the raven stretched out. _You don’t need to reach out anywhere, little spark. You are already bonded to the tree through blood and your own choice. Ask for help and it will grant it._

With one last caw that echoed in Stiles’ ears there was shimmer and he felt the raven flicker away from his mind and disappear. Not knowing what it meant about looking in himself, he tried to see if he could feel anything different in his mind or body. Wait, there was something. A tiny green thread, reaching out of him and tangled down in the very roots of the nemeton. He tugged on it gently and saw it turn a little brighter and stronger. 

Agonizing pain tearing its way through his body wrenched him back to the present and his scream seemed to go on and on. When his body finally let up from the shaking he turned his head to the left and almost passed out. Ennis had jammed one of those spikes Deaton had been setting out through his wrist to stab into the nemeton. Blackness swam through his vision and he had to grit his teeth to will himself to stay awake. 

Ennis was just laughing. “Oh they were so right, look at you, not even a rabbit anymore. Just a small tiny mouse…” 

Rage filled him. He was done with this. He was done being the victim and done being used and manipulated by goddesses or stupid dreams or ravens. His sister had died because of these people and their lust for power. He would not give them anything more. He latched onto his anger and thought about everything he had been through since the fire happened. His body started shaking again but not with pain this time. Power was curling up and through him. He shoved it into the green thread and _pulled_. 

White and gold sparks exploded in his eyes and suddenly he could feel everything. Every living thing in Beacon Hills and the county around it roared their voices through his mind. He gritted his teeth and let the wave rush him through it. He would not fail at this. As his consciousness raced its way in and around the entire county he just kept pulling on the green thread. _grow_ he said to the nemeton. _grow_ he said to the trees around the clearing. As he started to pull his consciousness back to his body a flare of excitement caused him to make a detour, he almost laughed when he came across his mistletoe plant. It was almost vibrating. 

_come too?_ it begged him. 

He grinned viscously. _yes. come._

He opened his eyes again and stared into Ennis’. It was as if time had stopped while he was spread out over the county. The alpha was still laughing at him, now moving to pick up another spike. 

“You shouldn’t do that.” He said, he still felt a little disconnected. His voice almost sounded like it wasn’t coming from him. 

“Why not, mouse? Think you can stop me.” 

His face turned hard and he smirked as he felt the arrival of Nick. “Yes.” 

The mistletoe would have been shrieking in glee if that were possible as it latched itself onto Ennis. The alpha gave a surprised roar and immediately started tearing at the plant and swinging it around to try and dislodge it. Deaton gave a surprised shout from somewhere behind him. Focusing on himself, he let sparks shoot out of his hands. The ropes sparked and fell off of him in ashes. He reached over to grip the spike with his right hand and wrenched it out before he could think about it. The pain made him dizzy but there was enough magic coursing through him now that it didn’t matter. 

He stood up and turned to look at the druid. White and gold sparks were dancing over his skin now and the druid actually took a step backwards. Behind him, he could hear Ennis’ roar of rage. He walked towards Deaton, rage building back up inside him. Deaton shouted something and Stiles could feel the druid’s connection now to the nemeton. It was a coiling twisting thing that smelled like ash and rot. He reached out and gripped it with his left hand. It hurt to close his fingers around the connection but blood would make this easier. 

Deaton must have felt him grab hold because the druid grabbed a knife and went towards him with it upraised. Stiles felt wild power from the nemeton surge through him and with a flick of his fingers, he snapped the connection in two. Deaton stopped in mid lurch and his body spasmed, dropping the knife. The druid now collapsed, writhing on the ground, the skin turning to ash. Feeling propelled by something, Stiles stepped forward and looked down at the former caretaker of the nemeton. 

“It doesn’t answer to you anymore.” His voice sounded distant and wrong. “It called to me, it chose me. My patron is the Morrighan and she wishes this land to be cleansed from the likes of you.” 

“Mercy...please...mercy…” Deaton reached out an arm towards him but Stiles couldn’t find any part of himself that cared. It was starting to scare him how cold he felt. 

“Did you give mercy to Malia?” 

“That...wasn’t me…” The druid’s voice was strained and struggled to try and sit up. Stiles kicked him, hard, and he fell back over with a cry. 

“Stiles!” 

He brought up his foot to slam it down on the druid again. 

“Stiles!” 

He slammed down hard, letting his magic spark through him to hit the druid. Deaton screamed. He started gathering power again, letting the sparks build up. Time to end this. 

“Mischief! Mieczysław!” 

He froze. That voice. He knew...gasping he wrenched himself backwards and the storm around him stopped. Arms circled around him as he started to collapse. Sobbing, he turned around to cling to Peter, who held him tight and made soothing noises. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He sobbed out. What had he almost done? He’d almost...bile rose and he pulled away to throw up all over the grass. He whimpered. All the pain the magic had let him ignore was coming back with a vengeance now. 

“It’s ok, Stiles, it’s ok, you did nothing wrong. I’ve got you, you’re ok. Mischief, I’m here now, I’m not going anywhere. It’s ok.” Peter murmured to him, the pain slowly receded so his dad must have started taking some of it. 

“Peter, the alpha!” Derek shouted behind them. Both of them turned just in time to see Ennis rip the last of the mistletoe away. Ennis was covering in bright red lines from where the plant had tightened its hold but the alpha was still in fighting shape. Fully beta shifted, Ennis roared and charged. Peter sprang over Stiles slammed into the alpha with his own roar. Derek shifted and came in from the side, slashing claws at the alpha’s tendons. Blood burst out but the alpha threw out an arm sending Derek careening into the dirt. 

Peter was thrown the opposite direction and Ennis snarled and turned back towards Stiles. Peter roared his challenge, attacking from the side again, grappling with the alpha and sinking teeth and claws into whatever skin he could find. Derek was up again and slunk around to the back, waiting until the alpha was fully distracted before rushing in and shoving his claws deep into its achilles. Ennis stumbled as he tried to turn to swipe at Derek which gave Peter time to surge upward to dig his claws up through the rib cage to pierce a lung. Between the two Hales biting and slashing with furious speed, they got the alpha to collapse on the ground. 

Standing over Ennis, his chest heaving. Peter’s eyes were glowing bright blue. Looking up he met Derek’s gaze with a question in them. Derek nodded to him and Peter slowly crouched down, leaning over the alpha with a cold expression on his face. Closing his eyes, he let his claws out to graze over Ennis’ throat. “I’m sorry, my old friend.” He whispered and slashed down.

Stiles felt the power rush into Peter. He could feel the nemeton sing out with glee. _Hale, Hale, Hale._ Gritting his teeth, he made himself stand up and stumbled over to Peter. 

“Alpha.” He said, reaching out his right hand to grip Peter’s shoulder. “Alpha, go to the nemeton. Claim the land. It’s asking for you.” 

Standing up, Peter reached out to support Stiles and together the two of them made their way over to the stump. There was already a green seedling shooting up from its center. Stiles leaned forward and placed his left hand, full of blood, on the stump. Peter slashed his right hand and placed it there next. Power raced through them both and Stiles suddenly felt the pain in his hand go away. Gasping, he pulled back. He almost cried with relief, the hole from the spike was gone completely. Taking stalk of himself, he sagged again. The healing had not extended to everywhere. 

Peter gripped him lightly and helped guide him back to the ground. “Stiles, we need to get you to the hospital. Derek, check on Deaton. Make sure he doesn’t leave.” 

“Yes, alpha.” 

The startled look on Peter’s face at that, made Stiles laugh and Derek smirk. “Derek...your --” 

Derek knelt down and bared his neck. “You are my alpha, Peter. You are the one who guided me through my first shift, you are the one who held me when I cried over my first break up. You have always been there for me and choose you as my alpha.” 

Peter, shaking slightly, held out a hand and gripped Derek’s neck lightly. “Thank you.” 

Derek got up to go to Deaton when Stiles remembered something important. “Wait! No. Shit. The house! You have to go to the house, both of you. Laura and Kate, they went there to do something. Kate and Laura, they set the fire. Laura...she killed Malia...Peter...she told me…” 

Derek’s face crumbled and Peter froze in shock. “Stiles,” Peter said urgently, “are you sure?” 

Stiles pulled away hurt, and glared. “Of course I’m sure! You think I’d say something that terrible and not be sure? She was there...she saw me, she hurt me, and she laughed.” 

“Ok, I’m sorry, I’m sorry son. I believe you.” Peter wrapped back around Stiles and let out a soothing rumble. 

“But you have to go, they were planning something there, something bad, Laura wants to be an alpha.” 

Peter sat back up, thinking swiftly. “Derek, I need you to bring Stiles to the hospital and call Noah as soon as you get into the car and update him. I’m going to the house. Stay with him at the hospital, Derek, understand?” 

“Peter --” 

“Derek.” 

Derek ducked his head. “Yes, alpha.” 

Peter leaned forward and bumped their heads together gently. “I’ll be ok. I just need to know you and Stiles are safe. All right?” 

Derek nodded and Peter kissed Stiles on the forehead before taking off through the woods. Derek tried to as gently as possible lift him up but with all the cuts on his torso it was impossible. Finally, Stiles gritted out. “Derek, just pick me up and run. It’ll hurt no matter what. Maybe this way I’ll pass out.” 

Derek whined but gave in. Just before the darkness took him, Stiles heard a long howl in the distance. He grinned. Peter had found his prey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting close to the end now. Next chapter we have Noah's perspective and he gets to let out some rage of his own.


	15. Noah Saves the Day

Noah flung himself out of the cruiser at the Hale house; he had a terrible moment of panic as he saw Talia Hale standing over Peter with raised claws. “Stop! Police!” He roared out in his best cop voice. Feeling incredibly grateful that he had switched his regular bullets for wolfsbane ones when this whole nonsense started, he aimed the gun straight at Talia’s head. Tara and Luke behind him also had their guns raised and he took a brief moment to truly appreciate his deputies before focusing back on Peter. 

“Move.” He said, stalking forward but keeping out of lunging distance. He’d spent enough time training with Peter to know the range of distance a wolf could make in a single leap. He spared a quick gaze to Laura who was slumped on the ground next to Kate Argent’s dead body. Laura’s breathing was labored but she was attempting to stand back up. Her eyes flashed as she snarled in his direction. 

Talia, eyed him warily but slowly pulled herself off Peter. “Noah, you don’t know what all happened today. This is not what it looks like.” 

“Like hell it isn’t exactly what it looks like. Damn you Talia. You will go and stand over by your family right now or I will put a bullet in you.” Noah was just done with the whole situation. The fear and panic from the day was draining away to leave cold, hard anger in its place. 

Tara came up next to him. “I’ll cover you boss, see to Peter.” 

Nodding his thanks, he quickly dropped down to turn Peter over and drag the newly made alpha into his lap. “Peter. Peter, open your eyes damn it.” 

Peter let out a low moan and tried to curl away from him. Noah reached out and dug his fingers into the stomach wound, hoping to help trigger the healing process. “For fuck’s sake Peter Hale if you bleed out right now I swear to god I will call every one of Claudia’s asshole relatives until one of them gives me a spell to bring you back then I will tie you up in a chair, with a circle of mountain ash and let Stiles ask every single one of his questions about werewolves until you are begging for mercy. Now heal damnit. Please…” The last word came out choked. He reached out to run his fingers over Peter’s face. He couldn’t lose this man again. He couldn’t lose another person he loved. 

“Why…?” Peter’s voice was hoarse and strained and Noah resisted the urge to smack the ridiculous wolf. 

“Oh Peter…you know why, you stupid fucking idiot.” 

“You shouldn’t have come.” Peter mumbled in his shirt. He did smack his wolf this time. 

“Like hell I shouldn’t have.” 

“Noah…” 

“No, I am through and done with you making decisions out of your own fear or high handed ideas of what is best for me and my kid. I am taking you home with me and you are staying there.” Peter slumped against him and muttered what Noah decided to believe was an affirmative. Seeing that the healing process was going well, he looked up again and groaned. Chris Argent had arrived and had his guns out and was yelling at Talia. The FBI agents were there as well, pointing their guns at the Argent contingent. 

He cast a look back towards the Hale clan. “Maggie,” He said, barely raising his voice, “can you come help Peter while I deal with this shitshow?” He relaxed as he saw her move away from the larger group and come quickly over to them. Her eyes were wide but her voice firm. 

“Of course, Noah.” 

Nodding his thanks to her he got up and marched over to stand in the middle of everything. Anger was still burning hot within him. Derek’s garbled and panicked phone call of an update had been a little light on details but Noah had gotten enough out of it to know he was furious. 

“All right. Everyone stop this right now.” He shouted. Surprisingly, everyone stopped shouting and looked at him. Well, good. He noticed all of the kids, including Scott, took the opportunity to flock around Peter. Seeing that made something in him settle a bit more. Having his pack surround him would make Peter heal faster. 

“Sheriff.” Argent began saying stiffly, still glaring at the Hales. 

“No. You don’t get to talk right now. Not when your sister kidnapped and almost killed my son earlier today. And you,” He pointed at Talia, “your daughter helped her.” Ignoring Talia’s spluttered outrage he plowed on. “These fine federal agents were coming her to arrest Kate Argent of thirty five counts of Arson and one hundred and ten counts of murder. Agent McCall, how would you like to proceed now?” 

He felt a little unholy glee at the look on Argent’s face at the charges and then the look on Talia’s face at the name of the FBI agent. Noah didn’t personally care much for McCall but he was an excellent FBI agent and was just as invested as Noah was in making sure the Hale pack was safe. 

Rafael McCall stepped forward, face neutral. “We will, of course, be taking Kate Argent’s body into FBI custody until the investigation into her death is complete. We will need to question everyone here for an account of what happened. Chris Argent, I need to ask you and the men with you to put down your weapons now and kneel on the ground with your hands in the air. You are all under arrest for suspicion of collusion of the murder of Rachel Hale, Simon Hale, Malia Hale and the kidnapping and attempted murder of Mieczslaw Stilinski.” 

Argent’s face turned pale but he followed through with the agent’s orders and soon he and the four men with him were handcuffed and placed in the FBI vans. Noah had called in more deputies who took the hunters back to the station for processing while the FBI teams began to question the Hale pack. Rafael took Tara with him to go check on the nemeton area so he could say he had for his report. It was very nice to have FBI agents and Deputies who knew about the supernatural. McCall had been very careful in picking his team for this assignment. 

Through all of this, he kept a tight eye on Laura. She was trying to blame everything on Peter, claiming all she had done was bring her girlfriend to meet the family and that Peter had shown up and just attacked Kate for no reason. Both the rest of the pack and the evidence found in the SUV the girls had driven contradicted this statement. The two women had been stupid enough to not remove Stiles’ things from the SUV and the blood in the back of it did not help her case. In the end, they arrested Laura as well, using special cuffs with mountain ash and runes on them to hold her. 

Talia had gotten incredibly pale and quiet when the trunk had been opened which told Noah that the blood was definitely Stiles’ blood. Peter had healed enough by then to sit up and give his own statement of what had happened. Before he had gotten too far though, McCall decided it would be better to have him give it at the station so it would be harder for anyone to claim bias. While they took Peter there, Noah headed to the hospital with Cora, Scott and Anthony in tow. The three teens had practically thrown themselves into the car and refused to leave it. He gave in with minimal fuss. 

He noticed Maggie quietly ushering her other three boys into her own car. At his unasked question she winced slightly but said, “I’m going to take the boys and follow Peter. It will help ground him to have us close. If you can convince Derek to leave Stiles’ side please send him as well. I’ll bring him to your house afterwards.” 

He gripped Maggie’s shoulder in gratitude and started the drive to the hospital. Derek is in the waiting room by surgery when they all get there. He pulled the boy into a firm hug and didn’t relent until Derek sagged into him and clung for a few minutes. Drawing back, he squeezed the back of Derek’s neck and gave a small smile. “You did good, Derek. Thank you for helping to save my son.” 

Derek’s look in response was mildly heartbreaking. He hunched over and twitched. “He’d mostly saved himself before we got there...it was, incredible.” 

“Derek,” Noah said as gently as possible, “what’s wrong?” 

“I...Stiles told me that he thought the Argent’s were working with Deaton and the alpha as well. But I didn’t believe him. I didn’t take his fears about Deaton seriously either...he said...he said Deaton found out that he and Peter saw Irene and that’s why they made the move now. If I had just listened then --” 

“Derek. Don’t do this to yourself, please. Stiles told all of us the same things and we all agreed both things were unlikely. Stiles…” Noah trailed off and shook his head slightly. “Stiles almost always goes first to the most dramatic and unlikely theory, it’s not your fault for thinking it wasn’t true. I definitely should have taken the threat from Deaton more seriously but that’s on me, ok, not you. The important thing here is that Stiles is going to be ok. Your family is safe as well and Kate Argent is dead.” 

“It’s our fault too.” Scott’s mournful voice caused both him and Derek to turn and look at the teens. All three of them looked devastated. “We ignored him when he said the Argent’s were a threat. We believed Allison over him just because…” Scott cut himself off with a flush. Derek rolled his eyes. Cora turned red a well. 

“I believed him.” Anthony cut in with a grumble. “It was you two love idiots who let a pretty girl turn your heads away from your best friend.” Both of them winced and looked at the floor. The anxiety headache that had been building ever since the first text from Kate Argent returned with a vengeance. He really wasn’t sure he had the emotional capacity to comfort this many guilt filled teenagers. With a deep sigh he just opened his arms and hugged them all for a long time. He does make a mental note to have a long talk with Scott later about listening when adults tell him things like stay away from the potentially deadly hunter family. 

He isn’t waiting long before the Doctor comes out to give him an update on Stiles. Noah has to sit down again when he hears of the breadth of his son’s injuries. Multiple lacerations on his torso, neck and legs, two broken ribs, broken nose, concussion, the tendons on his right leg were cut so they are unsure if Stiles will ever walk without a limp. Scott and Cora turned completely green and pale. He’s grateful for Derek’s hand on his shoulder keeping him grounded in the present. The key thing here is that Stiles is going to live. Recovery will be painful but he will live. 

He is taken back to see Stiles while Derek calls down to the station to give them an update. His son is sedated and looks very pale and small lying in the hospital bed. He lets himself cling and cry for a while. He came so close to losing another child and spouse today. He isn’t sure how long he’s been sitting there when arms wrap around him and the familiar weight of Peter is on his back. 

“I’m sorry, Noah.” Peter whispered in his ear. Noah just clung to his mate and let himself fall apart for a while. 

Eventually he has to get up and go face reality again. He is thankful that Peter can stay, the new alpha promises to get him immediately if Stiles wakes up. When he gets back out to the waiting room, Maggie is there as well and he sags a bit in relief. It looks like she has all the kids well in hand though Cora and Scott are still very pale and clinging to each other. Rafael is still there as well though Scott keeps shooting his father confused looks. 

At his look, McCall shrugs and says, “I had to get Derek’s statement and then wanted to make sure Stiles was going to be alright. I do need to head back to the station. I assume Tara will be acting Sheriff for the moment?” 

“Yes, that’s right. We already have all the paperwork sorted. We knew this was a possibility due to my connection with the Hales.” 

“Good.” The agent shifts uncomfortably and shoots a look towards his son. Noah doesn’t say anything, while he respects the man as an FBI agent, he hasn’t seen any proof the man has become a better father. Rafael waits a couple more moments before awkwardly leaving. Breathing a sigh of relief, Noah turns to try to herd everyone towards getting food when the door opens and Talia Hale walks in. Everyone stiffens. 

“Noah. I --” 

“Save in.” He cuts in roughly. “You have nothing to say to me that I want to hear. Get out now.” 

“Two of my children are here and --” 

“Only one of whom is a minor but I have already submitted paperwork claiming reprehensibly neglect on your part and asked the county judge for emergency custody of that one.” Peter’s smooth voice interrupts her this time. His eyes flash briefly red as he enters the room coming to stand beside Noah. 

Her teeth click together with a snap. Outrage crosses her face before she quickly brings it back to neutral. “I have no idea how you could possibly think that would work. Peter, I came here to apologize and make amends but if you intend to attack my pack like this I will not stand for it.” 

“22.” Noah broke in, gazing at her calmly.

“Excuse me?” 

“22 city and county violations over the past four years with either your house, cars, or land. You have always treated the laws of this town and county like they were beneath you but I’ve been keeping track. I have proof of every one of them. Also, the lawyer who bequeathed your parent’s will was arrested last week for fraud. My deputies are currently going over his cases and discovering just how often he ignored the terms of the will and was bribed to change them.” 

Talia starts paling under his gaze now. He just kept staring. He was done with this woman affecting his life. “If you so much as lift a finger against Peter, Stiles or any single person in your family that wants to leave your pack for his I will make sure you are driven out of town.” 

“You...you can’t do that! This is extortion.” 

He smiled. “No, ma’am, it’s just the law. But you do have a point. I should start processing all those cases, otherwise I wouldn’t be a very good law man.” 

Her step towards him falters as Maggie and Derek come to stand at Noah’s other side. Their faces are hard as well. 

“Talia, we have never gotten along but I never believed you truly meant ill to your family. However, I think you need to start asking yourself what kind of mother you are when your oldest daughter in the pursuit of power killed three members of her family and intended to kill more. I never want to see your face again unless I’m arresting you. Now. Get. Out.” 

With one last pleading look towards her family, she finally turns and leaves. There was a moment of absolute silence in the room once she left. Noah was just turning to thank Maggie and Derek when Peter grabbed him by the shoulders, spun him around and kissed him hard. 

Pulling back there was a manic gleam in the wolf’s eyes. “That was,” he kisses Noah again, “The hottest thing you've ever done. We need to find an empty hospital room right now.” 

“Uncle Peter!” Several voices squealed in outrage while Noah just started laughing. 

Eventually everyone got sorted out though he and Peter did not find an empty hospital room as there were too many other responsibilities demanding their time. Stiles woke up a couple hours later, groggy and confused only to fall back asleep. He didn’t wake up again until the next day but much more alert this time. McCall came back and took his statement. Peter only had to flick him in the ear three times when he got too sassy. 

Peter was a whirlwind of energy between staying with Stiles and getting his small pack settled. He somehow had managed to buy the house right next to the Stilinski’s years ago and hadn’t told them. When the renters had left seven months ago the wolf had left the house vacant so Maggie and the rest of the Hale kids were moved into it. When Noah made a comment about sneaky wolves, Peter just looked very smug. 

Stiles was let out of the hospital after three days. He was brought home with a lot of fuss and bother but Noah was so glad to have him there that he let it all happen. Laura Hale had been released as there was no hard evidence she had anything to do with what happened other than riding in the car with Kate. Laura claimed she didn’t know and Kate had tricked her. Noah very obviously ignored Peter’s calculating look at that. 

It took two weeks for the rest of the investigation to conclude. Deaton’s body had been found dead at the base of the nemeton which caused Stiles to pale and disappear for the rest of the day when they told him. He and Peter had long conversations about the reveal of who the alpha was. Peter had been friends with Ennis but it had been many years since he had seen him. His pack had been slaughtered by hunters and he had sworn revenge and disappeared. Marin Morell had vanished completely which made Noah worried. Peter had frowned and then disappeared again, muttering to himself. 

Chris Argent had been released though his wife and his men had not been. All his men had enough evidence from crimes in other states that they were shipped off swiftly. The pole barn where Stiles had been kept captive had evidence that Victoria had spent time there so she was sent to the state prison to await trial. The FBI were trying to link her to other cases but as of yet had been unable to. Noah was just glad that kidnapping was a federal offense so she was not the county's problem. 

Allison had also been brought into the station for questioning in her role. Noah had probably enjoyed watching that more than he should have. They had let Tara handle it and it had been amazing. Allison had tried to be defiant for all of one minute before Tara brought out the pictures of Stiles’ injuries and Allison had been sobbing apologies and frantic statements that she hadn’t known anything about it. Noah was sincerely hoping Chris took his daughter and just left the county completely. 

Three weeks after the showdown everyone was finally starting to relax somewhat. Talia had not been seen since the hospital and Michael had left the county with his two daughters. He had told Maggie that he couldn’t follow Peter but also refused to live anywhere near the person responsible for his wife’s death. Noah and Peter were relaxing at the house in a rare moment of alone time. Clothes had just started to come off when the front door was thrown open and a frantic Cora tore into the room. 

“Uncle Peter! Uncle Noah! It’s -- Laura and -- shit. We didn’t see her, she just came out of nowhere…” 

Peter had been instantly on his feet and pulled Cora into a tight hug. “Breath, Cora, breath. I need you to focus for me, quickly, what happened?” His tone was low but urgent. Noah had already gotten up and went to his gun safe to start loading wolfsbane rounds. 

“Laura just appeared, Stiles was showing us some of his cool plant magic stuff and Laura just showed up. She --” Cora’s voice broke for a moment before she pulled herself back together. “She hurt Scott, really bad and Anthony and Stiles tried to do something with his magic but she stabbed him with something and he just froze -- it was horrible. She said for me to come get you, Uncle Peter, and tell you if you didn’t want him to die you needed to come alone to the old distillery.” 

Peter pulled Cora to him tighter and shot Noah a look. Noah already had his phone out to dial Melissa. Peter pulled Cora out of the door and over to the other house. Maggie thankfully was in and immediately took charge of Cora and said she’d contact Derek and get out to the preserve to get the other kids right away. 

Peter had shredded his clothes and had taken off in wolf form by the time Noah got off the phone and threw himself into his cruiser. The drive to the old distillery seemed to take forever. By the time he threw himself out of the cruiser he could hear the roaring that signaled wolf fighting. He wished he could roar when he saw that instead of just Laura, Talia was there as well, in her own wolf form. 

There was no way for him to get any sort of clear shot at the moment so he circled around the fight and headed into the distillery to look for Stiles. He found his son out cold on the ground. Thankfully, any injuries looked minor and his son’s pulse was wrong. He brought Stiles back outside and tucked him into the cruiser. Grabbing his rifle he loaded in the bullets as he assessed the fight in front of him. 

Laura was clearly not in control of herself as her clashes and jumps were wildly placed while Talia was the true dangerous one. The all black wolf form was very fast and would wait until Peter had to block or duck one of Laura’s frenzied blows to jump in and bite. Noah heard a howl coming from the woods and hoped that Derek got there quickly. But until then...he leaned forward on the hood on the cruiser, setting himself on his elbows so he could remain stable. Lining up his scope with the fighting wolves he slowed his breathing down and focused. 

A pattern emerged from the two female wolves. Talia would back off for a moment while Laura sprang forward to the side, trying to get Peter to expose his belly for Talia to jump in. Peter was holding them off for the moment but Noah could tell his mate was flagging. He let his own heartbeat and breathing become his entire awareness and waited. Talia backed off, Laura slashed in and -- the crack of the shot echoed through the forest. Talia crumpled to the ground. Laura screamed and spun around. Her distraction cost her. Peter’s teeth sank deep into her neck and she was dead instantly. 

Noah calmly unloaded his rifle and put it away before walking out to where Peter now stood. His mate was panting heavily and covered in blood. As he approached Peter looked up and whined slightly. “I know, my love, I know.” Noah murmured and sank his fingers into his mate’s fur as he looked down at the two dead wolves. Talia had transformed back in death and she lay there, the headshot obvious and her eyes wide open. Kneeling down, Noah ran his hand over her face, closing her eyes and then Laura’s. 

He wrapped an arm around Peter’s neck and pulled the wolf in closer for a minute. Peter sagged into him for a minute before pulling back and turning to go back to check on Stiles. Noah pulled out his phone to call Tara just as Derek came flying into the clearing, also in wolf form. Peter turned and met his nephew before the boy could get too close. Derek’s howl of despair made Noah’s gut clench. Turning he saw the younger wolf shake off Peter and turn to flee into the woods. Peter whined but didn’t move to follow him. 

Thankfully Tara and Luke were quick to arrive on scene and took over from Noah. Tara sent Noah home with Peter and Stiles and said she’d handle everything. Noah was too exhausted to dispute her and bundled Peter into the back seat with Stiles and drove them both home. The rest of the pack, minus Derek, were at Maggie’s place. Melissa took over checking on Stiles while Noah heavily told them all what happened. Peter was still hiding in wolf form but Noah couldn’t bring himself to make his mate change back. Peter needed time to grieve and process as well. 

Stiles woke up about an hour later, confused and disoriented. It ended up being a very long night. He finally managed to drag Peter up to bed and went to sleep being almost smothered by a giant wolf on one side and Stiles on the other. Cora crept in at some point and joined the pile as a wolf as well. Noah took a moment to be grateful that they had bought a california king sized bed years ago. 

He managed to extract himself from the wolves and his octopus of a son around 5am and make his way downstairs. Tara showed up about twenty minutes later and let him know that the whole department was aware now and they had decided to classify it as an animal attack. Noah had never been so grateful in his life to the loyalty of his people as he was in that moment. They had already removed and destroyed the bullet he had shot Talia with and covered up any evidence of anyone else being by the distillery. The coroner had written up and already ‘lost’ all the evidence taken and the bodies had been cleaned up and were being prepared by the funeral home in town. 

He was not ashamed that he got emotional enough that he hugged his chief deputy. She laughed and rolled her eyes but hugged him back and told him to take the week off. He didn’t argue with her. He had a feeling that the week would be an exhausting one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think there will just be one more chapter after this one to finish things up from Stiles' perspective and hopefully bring a little closure for everyone.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter! Woo! I already have some ideas in the pack of my mind for one shots dealing with some of the fallout but I need to focus on my other WIPs here for a bit. Though I'll probably still work on some of them when I need a break. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading. :)

Stiles hadn’t known it was possible to have so many emotions at the same time. He had woken up when his dad had left the bed and lay there with the two wolves just breathing and thinking. It had truly been a shitty month and half. He had thought he was finally coming to terms with everything that had happened at the Nemeton and Peter but yesterday…

Carefully, he extracted himself Peter and Cora and crept back into his room. Tumultuous would be a good way to describe it he thought as he dressed as quietly as possible. It was only in this past week he had been left alone for long enough periods of time that he had started to process everything that had happened to him. He paused in dressing to run shaking fingers over the bright red scars that covered his torso. He was feeling suffocated in the house and he needed to find Derek. 

His dad was still talking to Tara so he scribbled a note and dragging on his jacket he headed out into the forest. The woods felt even more alive now that the Nemeton was healing and he took several moments to breathe in and let himself sink into a half meditation as he walked. It was easier now to quiet his mind than it had ever been before. He made sure to keep himself aware of the other movements of the forest going on. That had been his mistake yesterday, he’d gotten too caught up in the forest and his friends to notice Laura approaching. 

He followed the strong green thread reaching out from him and followed it back to the Nemeton. They hadn’t let him come back here yet no matter how hard he argued for it. He fought back a scowl. They were still trying to wrap him up and keep him safe. Like that had worked out so well earlier. He flexed his left hand, feeling the phantom tingle of pain from the spike driving its way through his flesh. They wouldn’t even acknowledge that he’d been right. A lucky guess his dad had said in regards to his theory on Deaton. Now he knew it had come from his connection to the Nemeton. It had been warning him as best it could through urges and feelings. 

He took a moment to grin and breathed out his raven’s name as he opened his right hand up. Oengus drew himself out with shivering movement and fluttered to land on his shoulder. He reached up a finger to stroke the breast feathers. 

_dark thoughts this morning, little spark._

“I know. Did you feel it when they drugged me?” 

_I did. They could not have made it on their own. Too potent and it affected you too quickly for it to not to be from someone who knew of your spark._

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Stiles stopped moving for a moment to breathe through the panic that swirled its way through him. Oengus ran its beak through his hair and crooned slightly. 

_Looking for your wolf?_

“Yes.” 

_Follow your instincts, curadh. I’ll fly above and keep watch._

“Thank you.” Stiles said, blushing at the title. He didn’t know what to do when Oengus called him that. He was no hero or great warrior. He’d failed to protect his friends yesterday and he’d failed to protect Derek. 

Watching the raven start circling overhead something settled in him. Closing his eyes he let his mind brush up against Oengus’ and for a brief moment let himself feel the rush of wind beneath feathers, the thrill of flying and the view of the entire land beneath him. Feeling Oengus’ approval radiate between them, Stiles opened his eyes again and grinned. He was getting better at that. It was something the two of them had worked on constantly while Stiles was stuck in recovery. 

The walk through the preserve was slow going. His leg was still recovering and he hadn’t fully yet adjusted to the limp that would likely follow him the rest of his days. He had to stop frequently to recover his breath. If he hadn’t been so worried about Derek he wouldn’t have minded these stops that much. The entire forest was teaming with life and all of it just wanted to brush up against him. Small animals went out of their way to meander pass him. Random branches and plants stretched out to touch him. It could have been annoying but he was just too giddy with the rush of being able to feel all that life. 

Finally, he came over a small hill and saw Derek. The wolf was not alone and Stiles felt tension racket its way through his body and he pulled on the air around to start building up energy. Marin Morell sat in the clearing and Derek’s head was on her lap. He was still in wolf form and seemed completely content and calm. Stiles didn’t trust it and definitely didn’t trust her. 

“Peace Stiles. I am here in peace, so I swear on my oath as a druid and upon this land and nemeton that you are guardian of.” Her voice was calm and steady. 

Stiles narrowed his eyes slightly. “Do you swear on your life to give to the Morrighan if you lie?” He answered back, he was taking no chances anymore. 

Her eyes widened in slight surprise. “The Morrighan? Oh Stiles --” 

“Save it.” He cut in rudely. “I don’t need any opinions about my patron. Do you swear or not?” Power was building behind his words and with a sharp cry Oengus landed on his shoulder. Her eyes tracked the raven before she lowered them with a sigh. 

“I swear on my life to the Morrighan herself that I come in peace, Mieczyslaw.” 

He grimaced at her pronunciation. “It’s Stiles for you,” his lips twitched and he added, “Or Curadh if you prefer.” She gave him an unimpressed look. He just shrugged his shoulders while Oengus cackled in his mind. 

“I have come to apologize for my part in what happened to you.” She said, keeping her tone neutral and unwavering. 

“And what part would that be? The part where you gave us no warning that your brother was planning to sacrifice me to gain his own power or the part where you gave Talia and Laura Hale the means to drug me?” Her mild flinch at the second part confirmed that theory. 

“I am sorry that it caused you pain. I knew my brother was unstable but had no idea he would go to such lengths to preserve his power. I also did not know how far gone Talia was in her fear of losing her power. She needed to be removed for the sake of everyone. I merely gave her the option that led to her fall.” 

“Ah, so you get to play god but wash your hands of the results? Yeah, no, fuck you lady. Derek.” 

The wolf whined and looked up, his gaze went from hazy to clear and he startled to his feet growling at Morell. She slowly got up, keeping her gaze on Stiles. 

“You are playing with a dangerous amount of power Stiles. I am here to offer to be your guide and --” 

Oengus’ angry caw silenced her. Derek had moved to his side and Stiles placed his hand on the wolf’s ruff, sinking his fingers deep into the fur. He laughed, he couldn’t believe her audacity. 

“Get out.” 

“Stiles --” 

“No. Get out, out of Beacon Hills, hell, get out of Beacon County. I don’t ever want you to set foot on my land again. Understood?” 

Her face was still impassive but her voice grew hard, “You are playing with powers you do not understand. It is dangerous for a spark like yourself to connect so deeply to the land. If you do not keep yourself balanced you’ll --” 

Stiles rolled his eyes and cut in. “Your brother’s idea of balance was to let my sister die. Your idea of balance was to viciously let Derek’s mother die without giving her a chance to redeem herself. I’m done listening to you. Leave.” 

She nodded slowly and started to walk back into the forest. Just before she disappeared he called up his magic and sent a tiny tendril towards her to wrap itself inside her. She gasped and turned back. 

“I’ve marked you now. I’ll always know where you are if you ever return here.” 

She gave him a deeply disappointed look but didn’t say anything more as she turned and left. Stiles waited, tense, until he felt her get far enough way before he sank down and embraced Derek tightly. The wolf whined and snuggled into him. He pulled Derek to lay down with him on the grass and eventually drifted into sleep with Oengus’ voice being the last thing he heard. 

_Rest, nestling. You will be safe here._

Rough licks to his face woke him up. Grumbling he shoved at Derek’s snout. “Arg...gross, sourwolf, I thought we weren’t doing the kissing thing yet -- oof.” Derek flopped all the wolf’s weight on top of him and breath left his body in a rush. Swearing he shoved ineffectually at the dead weight and glared at the grinning wolf face above him. Derek just thumped his tail and gave another long slurp to his face. 

“Ok, ok, you win, heavywolf, you win.” 

With a sharp bark, Derek bounced off of him and started to nudge and lick him all over. Getting the hint, he slowly got up. Taking a look at the sky he saw that the sun was close to indicating noon and his stomach rumbled. 

“Yeah, you’re right. We should head back. Did you want to talk first though? I’m on your side in this, whatever you need to feel with your mom and Laura you can feel it ok? If you want to be mad at Peter and my dad you can be mad at them. You can both understand something logically but still feel the opposite about it.” 

Derek shoved his face into Stiles’ stomach and whined. Stiles ran his fingers over the wolf’s ears until Derek relaxed again. Looking up at Stiles the wolf gave a sharp bark and wagged his tail again. Nodding, Stiles turned and began the slow walk back towards home. He got about halfway there when Peter found them. 

Peter’s face was unreadable as he came up to them. Stiles just stood his ground. He was not going to apologize for leaving the house this time. He had done what needed to be done and Peter had given no indication about being ready to face reality. Now in human form, the alpha still looked broken in a way that Stiles hadn’t seen before. It was different from his memories of after his mom had died or after Malia. 

Slowly, Peter knelt down to meet Derek’s gaze. “I’m sorry, Derek, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for the pain and that I couldn’t find another way. I’m sorry that I let myself get lost in my own pain and didn’t come after you yesterday.” 

Derek whined but only hesitated a moment before going to Peter and letting the alpha hold him close. Stiles felt himself relax somewhat at that. He’d meant it when he said he’d be on Derek’s side but hadn’t been looking forward to being at odds with the two parental figures in his life. He let his mind drift with Oengus while Peter was holding Derek. Marin was out of the preserve now and Stiles could feel her in town. He grimaced when he realized he hadn’t given her any sort of deadline. He’d have to talk to Peter about it and just hope the alpha didn’t get upset with him. 

Peter’s hand on his shoulder drew him back to the present. He tensed, expecting to be scolded for leaving the house but Peter just sighed and pulled him into a hug. “I should be mad you left like you did but I understand why and I think we have all had a rough few weeks. You get a pass on this one but next time, please at least explain why you are leaving.” 

Stiles relaxed into the hug for a moment before he pulled back and rubbed a hand nervously over his head. “But you don’t listen. I mean, you listen to me but you don’t believe me. I just woke up and knew I needed to find Derek, like how I just knew Deaton was after me. It’s different now with the Nemeton connection...I just -- it’s hard to describe but I get this flash and urge and I just need to do it. But you and dad, you are both acting like I’m just being impulsive or not caring or making up some wild theory. I know I make mistakes...I should have listened to my gut and not gone with Allison because I knew something was wrong and I let my mind rationalize it but I need you guys to take me seriously.” 

Peter met his gaze for a few tense moments then nodded. “You’re right. We do need to take you more seriously now. We can’t just dismiss this connection you are forming and your magic. It wants to protect you and we should give it the credit it is due. However, we also just want you to make safe choices. I can’t promise I won’t mess up again either but I will try harder. You still need to talk to us and we will working on listening.” 

When they got home he got a similar speech from his dad but mixed with it was another apology over not trusting Stiles to know his magic more. There was also a promise to try and spend more time to understand what exactly his magic could do. Derek stayed in wolf form all day and barely left Stiles’ side. 

The funeral arrangements took a while to figure out. The matter of the will was also in complete shambles as the new lawyers Peter had hired found out that the original will by Peter’s grandmother had been ignored by his father. When Peter’s father had become alpha the man had bribed a lawyer to hide the will’s terms and done what he wanted to with the pack resources. Talia had done the same when she became alpha. There were certain requirements written into all Hale wills that dated back to the beginning. It all had to do with the next alpha meeting certain criteria in order to stay on the Hale lands. 

The lawyers told them it would probably be months for them to sort things out from a legal perspective so that Peter and Maggie could then begin to figure out the inheritance. In the meanwhile, thankfully, Peter’s adoption of Cora went quickly and smoothly. Stiles felt a little weird about it when he was being honest. It had only been a month ago when Cora had been one of his worst bullies and now the girl was throwing herself into his life and claiming his dads as her own. Thankfully, she was very distracted by Scott as the two of them had officially started dating while he had been in the hospital. 

Before he knew it another week had passed and the funeral date for Laura and Talia had finally been set. They had both women cremated and decided to scatter the ashes at the Nemeton. The family agreed that it didn’t feel right to bury them in the family plot. They decided instead to have a stone etched with their names to be placed by the other Hale generations. 

It was a warmer than usual day in March when the entire pack approached the Nemeton. For most of them it was their first time seeing it. Stiles was pleased to be able to bring the whole pack there even if it was a solemn occasion. He grinned when they approached. He had been here regularly over the past two weeks since Talia’s death and the seedling in the center of the stump continued to grow quickly. The mistletoe was thriving in the clearing as well, a tendril happily came out to greet Stiles as he arrived. 

Peter and Stiles each held one of the urns and moving in opposite directions they slowly circled the Nemeton letting the ash fall as they walked. When they finished they went back to stand with the rest of the pack. Grief hung in the air and everyone stood in silence. The air around them seemed to thicken as the silence was broken by a single cry of a raven. 

Stiles and Peter turned as one to watch as the Morrighan came into view. The rest of the pack were startled and looked at her with wide eyes. Stiles stepped forward as the goddess came to the Nemeton and rested a hand on it. Her black eyes gleamed bright as she looked at him. He really hoped that there wasn’t another task or big thing to do. He was just so tired. 

“You did well, Mieczysław, very well. You have healed the Nemeton and it will grow strong again. Alpha, come forward.” Peter came, his eyes turning red as he did so. The air seemed to crackle in anticipation. The goddess smiled, though the look lacked all warmth. “You have sworn yourself as this land’s protector. Trust your emissary and his connection to the land and teach your pack all the things that were neglected by your predecessors.” 

The Morrighan paused and turned her sharp gaze on Stiles again. He gulped, it was like looking into a well that never ended. One could get lost in those eyes if you weren’t careful. He saw flashes of death and war as she held his gaze steadily. She reached out and he felt himself going to meet her. Distantly he heard Peter growl but all his focus was on the goddess before him. Her hand gripped his and held it tight as she spoke again. 

“I name you Curadh, you have my blessing and favor. You are the guardian of this land and tree. Serve it well and it will guide you well.” 

He opened his mouth, to say what he had no idea, but she was gone just as suddenly as she appeared. The weight lifted from the clearing and he could hear the birds singing again. Stiles felt himself sag slightly but before he could fall, Peter’s arms wrapped around him. Everyone was still silent. 

“So, that was a goddess. Good grief, kid, you really don’t do anything by halves do you?” His dad’s voice seemed to break the spell that had fallen over everyone and there was a sudden clamor of voices asking questions or just exclaiming over what they had seen. He just stayed tucked into Peter as he dad came up and rested a hand on the back of his neck. He smiled, feeling a little giddy. The Morrighan’s words had released a weight in him and he felt content for the first time since all this insanity had started. There was still a lot to figure out but he had both his dads again and a pack now. They would all figure it out together.


End file.
